THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


THE 


TRUE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  MIND.      . 

(P Jt^^H^^-Xl^tW  .•^^//*i-«M^-»^-r  ^^t^i^t^t^^^   ^-^^ 

By  C.  graham,  M.D., 

AUTHOB  OF  "man  FROM  HIS  CRADLE  TO  HIS  GRAVE,"  AND  OF  "THE  TRUE 
SCIENCE  OF  MEDICINE." 


No  creed  is  too  absnrd  for  faith  ;  no  doctrine  too  sanguinary  and  monstrous 
for  human  credulity.  The  lives  of  former  generations  and  the  condition  of  the 
present,  I  give  as  lessons  to  posterity. 


LOUISVILLE,  KY.: 

PRINTED   BY   JOUN   P.   MORTON    AND    COMPANY. 

18G9. 


131 


Q-yQ-t 


DEDICATION. 


This  work  I  dedicate  to  the  reader  with  the  following  requests : 
That  he  will  look  with  an  eye  of  sad  regret  and  see  where  the 
Christian  world  is  drifting.  That  he  will  have  independence  enough 
to' know  that  he  has  a  mind  of  his  own,  by  which  he  can  judge 
as  well  of  its  own  operations  as  others  can  judge  for  him.  That  he 
will  throw  perplexing  and  unmeaning  words  aside,  as  worthless  in 
thought;  for  brutes,  and  the  deaf  and  dumb,  feel,  think,  and  act 
promptly  and  correctly  without  words.  That  he  will  read  the 
history  of  his  race  and  see  that  there  is,  at  this  time,  more  than 
a  thousand  human  victims  daily  immolated  upon  the  altars  of  a 
dark  and  sanguinary  superstition,  prescribed  by  an  inhuman  and 
domineering  priesthood.  That  he  will  seriously  meditate  upon 
the  fact  that  more  than  two  thousand  years  of  preaching,  and  of 
teaching  the  nature  of  mind,  its  duty  to  its  fellow-man,  and  its 
relation  to  its  God,  has  only  served  to  divide  the  human  family 
and  make  the  science  of  mind  more  laborious  and  incomprehensible 
than  ever.  That  he  will  keep  constantly  in  view  the  cause  of 
every  thought  and  act  of  his  life,  which  will  soon  give  him  a  perfect 
and  practical  knowledge  of  mind,  a  boon  that  no  closet-book  of 
assumed  and  artistic  minds  can  possibly  give  him.  That  he  will 
be  watchful  of  the  artifice  of  authors  and  teachers  in  quibbling 
out  of  the  influence  of  motives  in  the  production  of  will  and  action 
by  afiBrming  as  Haven,  the  great  text-book  writer,  does,  that  motives, 
though  the  reason  and  occasion  of  will  and  action,  are  not  the  cause. 
With  your  mind  thus  fortified,  read  on,  and  you  will  find  all 
the  laws  of  mind  fully  developed,  illustrated,  and  demonstrated. 

i^'a  nr  <"b  «  r>i-^ 


TABLE    OF    OONTEISTTS. 


PAGE. 

1.  What  is  Will? 13 

2.  Axioms 101 

3.  What  is  Sensation? 123 

4.  What  is  an  Idea? , 125 

5.  What  is  Perception? 131 

6.  What  is  Metaphysics? 134 

7.  What  is  Mystery? 137 

8.  What  is  Superstition? 142 

9.  What  is  a  Faculty? 148 

10.  What  is  Conscience? 154 

11.  What  is  Mind? 158 

12.  What  is  Theology? 176 

13.  What  is  Instinct? 211 

14.  What  is  Fate? 221 

15.  What  is  Reason? 222 

16.  Appendix 242 


PREFACE. 


My  object  in  the  following  essays  will  be  to  show  that  we  are 
creatures  of  education,  and  consequently  should  be  charitable  to 
each  other,  no  two  on  earth  having  the  same  organization  or  being 
impressed  with  the  same  circumstances  or  objects,  which  make  up, 
through  life,  our  honest  and  unavoidable  convictions.  For  the  want 
of  this  knowledge,  man  has  ever  been  the  greatest  enemy  of  mau. 
Yes,  from  the  intolerance  and  inhumanity  of  man  to  man  countless 
millions  have  bled  and  died.  Look  back  through  mouldering  ages  at 
the  hills  of  slain  and  the  rivers  of  blood  caused  by  men's  difference 
of  opinion,  and  we  must  grant  a  wrong,  a  sad  and  grievous  wrong, 
in  the  hearts  of  men.  All  histoi-y  of  our  race  will  testify  that  not 
only  the  crusades,  but  that  the  persecutions,  as  well  as  the  wars  of 
nation  against  nation,  liave  arisen  from  a  false  view  of  religion. 
Yes,  fanaticism,  bigotry,  and  human  idolatry  have  been  at  the 
bottom  of  it  all. 

From  the  time  Cain  slew  his  brother  Abel,  from  a  difference  of 
opinion  (congcience),  whose  offering  was  most  acceptable  to  the  Lord, 
has  this  malicious  and  cruel  conscience,  doubtless  planted  by  Satan 
himself,  been  busy  in  all  the  wars  and  persecutions  of  the  world, 
each  one  feeling  that  his  inward  divinity  justifies  the  murder  of  his 
brother  and  of  his  inward  divinity.  The  slaughter  of  seventy-four 
thousand  Protestants,  men,  women,  and  children,  all  between  the 
hours  of  midnight  and  the  rising  of  the  sun,  on  the  occasion  of  St. 
Bartholomew's  feast  in  France,  in  the  name  of  a  sacred  conscience  and 
of  God,  with  the  two  hundred  broiled  at  the  stake,  and  thousands 
otherwise  put  to  deatli  during  one  short  reign  in  England  alone,  are 
l)ut  as  one  grain  of  Band  on  tiie  seashore,  compared  with  the  terrific 
jmkI  tifndisli  iniiicli  of  this  divine  ransrienri'^  wliicii  swept  with  deso- 
lating might  all  over  llie  ("hiistian  world.  The  foiirtul  intensity  of 
this  wild  fanaticism,  urged  on  by  the  clergy  of  whatever  denom- 
ination   got    the    ufij)crhand,    was    such    that    sadness,   sorrow,    and 


6  PREFACE. 

mourning  was  in  every  true  Christian  heart — the  black  banner  of 
death  was  unfurled  and  spread  upon  the  family  altar,  and  their  pious 
prayers  to  the  God  of  mercy  were  watched  and  choked  down  till 
fearful  became  the  name  of  religion  itself.  Were  all  the  shocking 
atrocities  committed  by  this  (so-called)  unerring  conscience  brought 
up  in  panoramic  review  before  a  feeling  man,  he  would  shudder  at 
the  sight,  and  doubt  the  infallibility  of  his  own  conscience.  Yes,  were 
all  the  gory  locks,  the  mangled  and  charred  bodies,  to  rise  from  their 
graves,  the  world  would  stand  aghast. 

And  now,  marvel  not  at  this,  my  reader,  when  you  have  seen  before 
your  own  eyes,  only  a  few  years  back,  the  bloody  struggles  and 
devastation  in  your  own  land,  all  undeniably  from  the  same  divine 
and  unerring  conscience,  which  tells  all  mankind  what  is  right  and 
what  is  wrong,  according  to  the  false  teachings  of  our  present  schools. 
The  northern  people  being  taught  a  conscience  that  the  domestic 
institutions  of  the  South  were  a  sin,  and  the  southern  people  being 
conscious  that  their  rights  were  invaded,  their  divine  and  unerring 
consciences  brought  them  into  deadly  conflict.  Feeling  assured  that 
all  these  sad  and  melancholy  tragedies  have  sprung  from  the  influ- 
ences of  the  pulpit  and  the  teachings  of  our  schools  in  false  theology 
and  mental  philosophy,  my  aim  will  be  to  show  the  fact,  and,  as  far  as 
possible,  correct  the  error;  for  just  so  long  as  we  are  taught  that  we 
have  a  sacred  monitor  or  dictator  within  us  which  condemns  the 
same  in  all  others  will  we  feel  it  our  religious  duty  to  punish  each 
other. 

In  preparing  the  mind  of  the  reader  for  the  better  understanding 
of  the  subject  under  consideration,  I  shall  have  to  crowd  my  preface 
with  many  original,  vital,  and  leading  principles  by  which  all  things 
are  governed.  God,  in  his  wise  and  preconceived  plans  of  creation, 
has  left  nothing  to  chance,  but  stamped  everything  with  his  undevi- 
ating  laws,  called  certainty,  force,  or  fate.  There  is  nothing  in  his 
universe  which  can  create  itself,  move  itself,  or,  when  moved,  stop 
itself  but  by  other  forces,  but  all  are  dualistic  and  dynamic  dependen- 
cies, no  one  atom  acting  upon  itself,  but  acting  upon  every  other 
atom.  The  heavenly  bodies  are  kept  in  motion  by  dualism,  or,  in 
other- words,  by  centripetal  and  centrifugal  power;  while  the  uni- 
versal vegetable  and  animal  kingdom  has  its  laws  of  vitality, 
attraction,  and  repulsion,  which  makes  everything  what  it  is  and 
nothing  else.  Though  every  pore  of  nature  is  thrift  with  organic 
life,  there  is  nothing  self-ci*eated ;  but  all  is  forced  into  existence  by 
their  antecedent  archetypes,  and  pressed  or  forced  forward  by  the 


PREFACE.  7 

fixed  (fatal)  laws  of  organic  life.  The  acorn  brings  an  oak  and  the 
apple  seed  an  apple  tree,  yet  neither  of  them  would  be  developed  to 
a  tree  but  by  the  force  of  circumstances.  The  egg  doubtless  comes 
to  the  world  with  a  germ  in  it,  yet  no  chicken  would  ever  be  quick- 
ened into  life  but  by  the  forced  laws  of  incubation.  All  beings  are 
forced  into  existence  and  held  in  their  alloted  spheres  by  fixed  laws 
that  govern  them — nothing  self-created;  nothing  left  to  chance. 
Man,  like  all  other  things,  has  a  forced  existence.  He  comes  into  the 
world  without  his  own  knowledge  or  consent,  is  forced  through  life 
by  laws  irresistible,  and,  in  like  manner,  is  forced  out  of  existence. 
To  know  the  fact  of  his  forced  destiny  is  but  to  know  that  he  would 
as  quickly  perish  without  support  as  fire  would  die  out  without  fuel. 
The  elements  of  food  and  the  vitalizing  powers,  the  modus  operandi  of 
which  he  has  no  knowledge  and  over  which  his  will  has  no  control, 
forces  him  forward.  All  the  functions  within  are  forced  conditions 
by  the  laws  of  Conservative  Wisdom.  The  stomach  can  not  act  or 
live  upon  itself,  but  acts  upon  the  food  which  comes  from  without 
itself.  The  liver  has  no  power  over  itself,  but  is  destined  to  secrete 
bile  from  the  blood,  which  is  forced  by  the  heart  upon  it  and  through 
it,  while  the  hcar.t  is  forced  to  dilation  and  contraction  by  the  stim- 
ulus of  the  blood,  whose  stimulating  and  vitalizing  powers  it  receives 
from  the  oxygen  of  the  lungs,  which  oxygen  the  lungs  receive  from 
the  external  atmosphere.  Nothing  self-existent;  nothing  self-sus- 
taining. All  is  cause  and  effect — dualixHc  and  mutual  dependencies 
upon  the  First  Great  Cause.  The  blood,  like  the  fertilizing  waters  of 
earth,  which  flow  through  their  bidden  channels  to  the  great  ocean, 
and  are  again  taken  up  on  the  wings  of  the  wind  and  wafted  to  the 
extremes  of  earth,  is  forced  in  one  eternal  round,  to  and  from  the 
heart  in  ceaseless  currents,  giving  life  and  growth  to  every  portion 
of  the  myriad  functions  of  the  moving  miracle — man.  Force  motion, 
all  perpetual  motion,  is  the  order  of  nature.  If  the  air  or  waters 
become  stagnant,  they  are  sickly,  and  were  motion  to  cease,  universal 
death  and  destruction  would  be  the  result.  Yet  nothing  is  self-moved, 
but  moved  by  an  anfcccilent  force,  which  alternately  becomes  cause 
and  effect,  ad  infinilum. 

In  addition  to  the  dualistic  order  of  nature,  it  seems  that  all  things 
are  antagonistic — as  God  and  Devil,  lieaven  and  litll,  jKiiii  and 
pleasure,  light  and  darkness,  heat  and  cold,  attract iim  and  icimlHioii, 
good  and  evil,  iiji  and  cluwn,  l>ig  and  little,  long  and  wlinrt,  and  so  on 
throughout  the  whole  range  of  nature — all  wisely  ordered  to  act  in 
harmony,  like  our  antagonistic  niusclos,  as  flexors  and  cxtenHdr.H 
wilhoiit    whii'h   we  could    have   nn   loconiot ion. 


8  PREFACE. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  were  we  to  search  throughout  the  whole 
arcana  of  nature,  there  would  be  no  exception  found  to  the  divine 
law  of  dualistic  antagonism,  nor  can  it  be  supposed  that  man,  either 
in  mind  or  body,  constitutes  any  exception.  If  mind  be  not  an 
inseparable  part  of  the  body  in  their  sojourn  in  this  world,  I  ask 
when  and  where  did  it  come  from?  It  is  born  with  the  body  and 
developed  and  matured  with  the  body,  and  all  the  investigations  of 
the  laws  of  life  and  of  sound  philosophy  forbid  the  idea  of  God 
creating  minds  separately  from  the  body,  by  myriads,  and  ingrafting 
them  into  the  body  at  some  unknown  place  and  time,  when  the  bodies 
are  ready  made  for  them.  This  now,  as  ridiculous  as  it  may  seem,  is 
actually  the  doctrine  of  our  modern  schools,  and  it  is,  by  the  by,  the 
professed  faith  of  Brigham  Young,  who  enjoins  it  upon  the  latter- 
day  saints  to  bring  forward  as  many  bodies  as  possible  as  tenements 
for  those  lone  and  naked  souls  who  are  floating  about  in  search  of  a 
home,  and  that  have  been  heard  to  shriek  in  the  wintry  blast. 
History  tells  us  that  this  question  was  settled  by  the  learned  prelates 
of  the  world,  who  decided  that  souls  were  made  separate  from  the 
body,  and  also  the  time  they  entered  the  body.  In  solemn  conclave 
at  Sarbonne,  in  France,  met  these  ecclesiastics,  sapients,  bishops, 
cardinals  of  divine  authority,  and  determined  that  the  soul  entered 
the  body  at  four  and  a  half  months  after  conception  (the  period  of 
quickening),  and  as  soon  as  possible  thereafter  should  the  mother  be 
injected,  per  vagina,  with  holy  water,  as  a  baptism  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  for  should  the  child  die  after  that  period  when  the  soul  had 
taken  up  its  residence  in  the  body,  born  or  not  born,  it  would,  without 
baptism,  certainly  go  to  hell  for  Adam's  sin,  and  not  from  any  sin 
these  little  creatures  had  committed  of  their  own.  How  unphilosophic 
and  unjust;  for  if  souls  are  not  propagated  from  Adam,  in  common 
with  the  body,  why  punish  them  for  Adam's  sin,  when  they  are  in  no 
way  akin  to  him,  but  made  by  God  himself.  And  now,  though  more 
modern  authors  might  eschew  this  celebrated  edict,  so-called  by 
history,  they  teach,  in  reality,  the  same  doctrine  of  a  mind  independ- 
ent of  the  body,  with  innate  ideas  and  a  divine  conscience  that  tells 
us  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong.  And  now  I  make  the  following 
quotation  as  a  fair  specimen  of  the  mental  text-books  in  our  schools : 

"There  is  born  with  us  an  original  sin,  and  there  is  also  in  human 
nature  a  primitive  faith,  wliich  precedes  and  transcends  reason, 
and  is  in  reality  the  self-development  of  Deity  in  our  thoughts  and 
discernment  of  truth:  a  spark  of  Deity  himself,  independent  and 
apart  from  the  body."     Every  mother,  without  the  aid  of  metaphysics. 


PREFACE.  a 

■will  contradict  this  mystic  philosophy,  for  she  knows  her  child  is 
born  a  child,  has  childish  ideas  and  childish  ways,  that  every  year 
adds  to  its  ideas  and  ways,  and  that  it  knows  nothing  but  what  it 
gains  by  self  observation  or  is  instructed  by  others — nor  does  that 
divinity  within  tell  the  infant  what  is  true  or  false,  right  or  wrong. 
The  universal  verdict  of  mankind  is  against  this  doctrine,  and  our 
courts  of  justice  forbid  the  testimony  of  infants,  distrustful  of  their 
intuitive  divinity.  If  asked  the  reason  why  men  of  otherwise  en- 
larged minds  and  of  world-wide  fame  should  teach  such  folly,  I 
would  answer  that  they  are  mostly  divines,  like  Bishop  Berkley 
and  Swedenborg,  who  feel  that  they  are  advancing  their  spiritual 
cause  by  excluding  all  influences  of  matter,  and  even  matter  itself 
(as  Berkley  did)  from  this  world,  and  claiming  God's  constant 
presence  and  personal  influence  in  every  thought,  word  and  deed, 
instead  of  working  by  wise  and  efficient  laws,  as  I  shall  aim  to  show 
he  does.  If  we  came  into  the  world  with  innate  and  unerring  ideas, 
we  should  certainly  recollect  them,  as  our  first  impressions  are  the 
most  lasting;  and  surely  that  divine  and  protecting  spirit  would  not 
let  us  run  into  the  fire  and  commit  so  many  errors  as  we  do  in 

infancy. 

"Great  wit  and  madness,  sure,  are  close  allied, 

And  thin  partitions  do  tbeir  bounds  divide." 

Those  soaring  divines  scorn  nature,  and  under  a  spiritual  hallucina- 
tion fall  into  transcendental  and  elysian  reveries,  losing  sight  of 
earth  and  all  earthly  things.  These  facts  found  in  the  history  of 
mental  philosophy,  I  bring  forward  to  induce  the  reader  to  think 
for  himself  and  look  within  himself  in  order  to  know  himself. 

My  object  in  leading  the  reader  through  the  kingdoms  of  earth 
and  on  to  the  celestial  spheres,  has  been  to  show  him  that  there  is 
nothing  in  God's  universe  self-creJVted  or  self-moved,  but  that  all  is 
dualistic  and  dynamic,  and  dependent  upon  the  first  great  and  moving 
cause  for  their  harmonious  and  eternal  rounds;  and  thence  to  render 
it  improbable  that  the  human  mind  should  have  been  left  a  vagrant 
to  its  own  whims,  subject  to  no  law  or  divine  rule  of  action.  And, 
further,  tliat  as  we  have  seen  there  is  nothing  in  the  universe  which 
can  act  upon  itself,  is  it  probable  that  the  mind  can  act  upon  itself 
and  give  itself  its  own  thouglits,  words  and  actions;  for  if  so,  the 
infant  would  bo  intelligent,  the  blind  man  could  see,  the  deaf  man 
hear  and  know  all  about  the  external  world  :iiid  the  relation  of 
things  around  him,  simply  by  creating  ideas  and  iutelligcnco  within 
itself. 


10  PREFACE. 

I  shall  aim  at  no  artistic  taste  or  manner  of  divisions,  subdivi- 
sions, technical  bewilderings  and  mystic  refinings,  but  shall  push 
my  argument  straight  forward  in  a  plain  and  familiar  style  that 
every  reader  may  understand;  and  to  rest  the  mind  from  a  close 
and  constant  stress  of  thought,  I  will  digress  in  examples,  illustra- 
tions and  consequences,  and  again  and  again  return  to  the  argument. 
As  the  subject  before  us  is  a  diiScult  and  perplexing  one,  I  shall 
often  use  the  same  terms,  and  as  often  duplicate  aud  recapitulate,  in 
order  to  more  fully  elucidate  the  subject  and  fix  it  upon  the  mind. 
In  condemning  false  writers  and  teachers,  and  particularly  the 
leaders  of  religious  parties,  who  I  know  have  done  infinite  and 
grievous  mischief  to  mankind,  I  hope  not  to  be  disrespectful,  as  no 
one  can  have  a  higher  regard  for  religion  and  the  teachers  of  a  true 
and  rational  religion  than  myself,  and  my  following  essays  are  in- 
tended to  teach  them  to  throw  aside  all  mystic  mummery,  and  study 
well  the  natural  laws  of  their  Maker  in  their  own  minds,  that  all 
the  isms,  cisms,  dogmatisms,  church  persecutions  and  wars  may 
cease,  and  brotherly  love  and  friendship  may  be  restored  to  man 
on  earth. 

My  mode  of  instruction  will  be  entirely  new,  while  the  great 
principles  by  which  I  hope  to  sustain  my  position  are  original  and 
exclusively  my 'own,  no  author,  so  far  as  I  know,  having  ever  dis- 
covered or  made  known  the  universal  law  and  order  of  dualism  by 
which  all  things  are  made,  moved  and  sustained,  nothing  having 
the  power  of  creating  itself,  moving  itself,  or  sustaining  itself. 
Detached  parts  may  have  been  observed  in  regard  to  this  fated  law 
of  all  organic  being,  but  it  has  never  been  applied  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  science;  and  just  so  with  all  other  principles  and  discoverings 
that  have  been  previously  known  but  in  part.  Every  old  woman 
who  had  boiled  a  tea-kettle  knew  the  force  or  power  of  steam,  by 
seeing  it  lift  the  lid,  but  no  one  till  the  days  of  Fulton  applied  the 
principle  to  boats  and  navigation :  everybody  had  seen  lightning,  and 
many  suspected,  yes,  knew  the  analogy  between  it  and  electricity, 
but  no  one  proved  their  identity  till  the  days  of  Franklin;  nor  did 
any  one  ever  apply  or  harness  this  wonderful  principle  and  set  it 
to  carrying  the  mail  but  Morse.  This  dualistic  law  I  shall  apply  to 
mind,  and  demonstrate  that  it  has  no  more  power  to  create  itself  or 
the  ideas  forced  upon  it,  than  a  stone  has  to  create  and  to  move 
itself.  I  shall  also  show  that  the  mind  is  an  indivisible  unit,  with- 
out faculties  (such  as  are  ridiculously  given  it),  and  without  power, 
except  such  as  is  given  it  by  the  force  of  objectivity  and  the  unavoid- 


PREFACE.  11 

able  organism  and  condition  of  body — -just  such  power  as  water  has 
to  run  down,  when  made  to  run  down.  The  mind  has  the  same  power 
(a  word  without  proper  meaning)  to  receive  ideas  that  the  paper  has 
to  receive  the  sentiments  written  upon  it,  or  the  wax  to  be  stamped 
with  its  endless  ideas,  fatally  corresponding  with  the  objects  that 
impress  those  ideas;  nor  can  the  mind  any  more  than  the  wax  alter 
or  annihilate  these  ideas. 

I  shall  strive  to  drive  innate  ideas,  as  witches  have  been  done, 
from  the  world,  and  to  show  that  this  thing  called  divine  conscience 
is  a  parasite — an  effect — is  not  a  i)rinciple — has  no  separate  exist- 
ence from  the  prejudice  and  education  of  the  mind;  and  though 
destructive  to  the  lives  and  liberties  of  others,  is  the  best  excuse  we 
can  have  for  own  conduct;  so  that  the  vicious  acts  of  one  intending 
a  crime,  to  him  it  would  be  a  crime,  while  to  another  the  same  act 
would  be  a  virtue,  if  done  with  a  virtuous  intention.  Saint  Paul 
says,  speaking  of  faith:  "I  know  and  am  persuaded  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  that  there  is  nothing  unclean  of  itself,  but  to  him  that  es- 
teemeth  any  thing  to  be  unclean,  to  him  it  is  unclean."  That  is,  it 
is  wrong  for  any  man  to  violate  his  ownl  sense  of  duty,  it  matters 
not  how  much  it  may  differ  from  that  of  others. 

I  have  made  but  few  quotations,  and  they  from  memory  and  a  few 
scrap  notes,  having  not  a  single  book  of  any  kind  before  me  in  my 
solitary  retirement,  my  library  being  consumed  by  fire  years  ago, 
and  never  renewed;  and  I  will  here  say  to  the  mechanical  and 
artistic  critic  that  he  must  excuse  my  loose  and  incoherent  style  and 
literary  defects,  as  I  have  not  spent  my  time  in  the  art  of  composition 
and  the  driveling  conventionalties  of  man,  but  in  the  pursuit  of 
nature  and  the  laws  by  which  we  "live,  move  and  have  our  being." 
My  life  lias  been  one  of  great  hardships  and  hazards,  as  I  wandered 
through  the  wide  world.  Besides,  I  write  hurriedly,  just  as  my 
ideas  are  brouglit  by  association.  Nor  have  I  copied  or  revised  a 
single  line  of  my  first  original  draft,  aiming  not  at  show,  but  to 
make  myself  understood  in  the  great  principles  I  advocate  and  the 
position  I  aim  to  sustain.  In  closing  my  preface,  I  say  to  the  reader 
that  if  he  doubts  the  perfect  originality  of  my  views  and  illustrative 
mode  of  instruction  throughout,  all  lie  hns  to  do  is  to  look  over  the 
index  of  any  and  all  authors  on  mental  science,  and  he  will  tind  as 
much  space  taken  up  by  classifications,  divisions,  subdivisions, 
apartments,  departments,  active  and  passive  powers,  with /rtrwi^ica 
innumerable,  as  is  here  taken  up  with  the  wliole  science  of  mind, 
which  I  could,  aside  from  explanations  and   illustrations,  have  con- 


12  PREFACE. 

densed  into  a  single  short  chapter — as  the  whole  phenomena  of  mind 
is  this — God  has  endowed  us  with  sensibility,  from  which  arise  pleasure 
and  pain,  and  consequently  a  desire  or  will  to  do  or  not  to  do!  Thus  is 
solved  in  a  short  sentence,  the  mighty  question,  the  great  enigma  of 
psychology,  soul,  mind  or  intellect,  all  meaning  the  same  thing.  To 
excuse  the  repetitions  and  sameness  of  views  which  may  be  found 
under  different  heads,  I  will  here  say,  it  is  the  same  subject  by 
different  names,  the  sameness  in  description  is  unavoidable;  besides, 
I  have  not  striven  to  avoid  it,  knowing  that  recapitulation  fixes  an 
abstract  and  perplexing  study  more  fully  on  the  mind.  It  must  be 
recollected  that  I  treat  of  mind  as  a  unit,  and  though  I  may  speak 
of  its  different  modes  of  action  by  different  names,  it  is  all  one  and 
the  same  thing — like  giving  the  character  of  an  individual  man 
under  different  names  and  titles.  To  make  a  big  book  on  mind,  it 
must  be  divided  into  many  parts  and  each  part  treated  of  in  artistic 
style,  as  separate  faculties  and  powers,  independent  of  each  other 
and  of  the  mind  itself. 


THE  TRUE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  MIND. 


"WILL, 


Much  has  been  said  and  written  for  past  ages  in  regard 
to  the  human  Tvill.  The  question  has  been,  whether  the 
will  acts  under  the  influence  of  motives,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  promptings  of  an  object  presented  to- the  mind 
for  its  choice ;  or  whether  it  has  a  self-creating  and  con- 
trolling power  to  act  upon  an  object  without  any  causal 
influence  of  that  object.  Various  definitions  have  been 
given  to  the  word  volition,  but  no  agreement  has  been 
settled  upon  by  authors.  My  position  is,  that  it  is  simply 
the  choice  of  one  thing  rather  than  another,  for  we  can 
not  choose  a  thing  contrary  to  our  will,  nor  will  a  thing 
contrary  to  our  choice.  In  this  I  am  backed  by  the 
authority  of  Locke,  who  sustains  the  same  view  here  laid 
down.  I  will  say  to  the  reader,  in  the  beginning,  that  he 
must  have  constantly  in  view  the  simple  fact  that  will  is 
nothin<r  more  nor  less  than  the  indivi»ible  mind  making  a 
choice,  and  that  no  choice  can  be  made  without  an  object 
of  choice,  which  object  leads  the  mind  to  its  choice;  and 
farther,  that  nothing  can  not  produce  something,  and  as 
the  will  is  something  it  must  have  been  produced  by 
something,  which  something  is  not  the  mind  that  can  not 
act  upon  itself,  nor  upon  nothing,  but  is  an  object  acting 
upon  the  mind,  just  as  medicine  acts  upon  the  body,  pro- 
ducing its  result,  which  result  being  the  offspring  of  the 
motive  and  the  mind,  can  not  have  been  the  author  of  its 


14  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

own  existence.  Yes,  and  moreover,  the  proof  of  the  will's 
being  an  effect  is  a  proof  of  its  not  being  a  cause,  or  of  its 
having  the  power  of  origination  within  itself  or  the 
product  of  nothing.  To  quote  authority  for  and  against 
this  subject  would  make  a  large  and  profitless  book  of 
abstract  refinings  and  technical  nonsense,  and  I  will 
therefore  introduce  a  few  sentences  only  from  the  pen  of 
Sir  William  Hamilton,  the  greatest  and  best  of  modern 
and  Christian  philosophers. 

"Will,  they  hold  to  be  a  free  cause,  a  cause  which  is  not 
an  effect;  in  other  words,  they  attribute  it  to  a  power  of 
absolute  origination.  But  here  their  own  principle  of 
causality  is  too  strong  for  them.  They  say  that  it  is 
unconditionally  promulgated,  as  an  express  and  positive 
law  of  intelligence,  that  every  origination  is  an  apparent 
only,  not  a  real,  commencement.  How  to  exempt  certain 
phenomena  from  this  universal  law,  on  the  ground  oi  our 
moral  consciousness,  can  not  validly  be  done.  For  in  the 
first  place,  this  would  be  an  admission  that  the  mind  is  a 
complement  of  contradictory  revelations.  If  mendacity 
be  admitted  of  some  of  our  mental  dictates,  we  can  not 
vindicate  veracity  to  any.  If  one  be  delusive,  so  may  all. 
'Falsus  in  uno,  falsus  in  omnibus.''  Absolute  skepticism  is 
here  the  legitimate  conclusion.  But,  in  the  second  place, 
waving  this  conclusion,  what  right  have  we,  on  this  doc- 
trine, to  subordinate  the  positive  afiirmation  of  causality 
to  our  consciousness  of  moral  liberty — what  right  have 
we,  for  the  interest  of  the  latter,  to  derogate  from  the 
former?  We  have  none.  If  both  be  equally  positive,  we 
are  not  entitled  to  sacrifice  the  alternative,  which  our 
wishes  prompt  us  to  abandon."  (Page  586.)  "How  the 
will  can  possibly  be  free,  must  remain  to  us,  under  the 
present  limitation  of  our  faculties,  wholly  incomprehen- 
sible. We  are  unable  to  conceive  an  absolute  commence- 
ment; we  can  not  therefore  conceive  a  free  volition.     A 


WILL.  15 

determination  by  motives  can  not,  to  our  understanding, 
escape  from  necessitation.  Nay,  were  we  even  to  admit 
as  true  what  we  can  not  think  as  possible,  still  the  doc- 
trine of  a  motiveless  volition  would  be  only  casualism ; 
and  the  free  acts  of  an  indifferent  are,  morally  and  ration- 
ally, as  worthless  as  the  pre-ordered  passions  by  a  deter- 
mined will.  How,  therefore,  I  repeat,  moral  liberty  is 
possible  in  man  or  God,  we  are  utterly  unable  specula- 
tively to  understand." 

Thus  we  see,  in  accordance  with  my  position,  that  in 
the  above  language  "  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  free 
volition,"  and  again,  "how  the  will  can  possibly  be  free, 
is.  to  our  faculties,  wholly  incomprehensible,  and  the  rea- 
son he  gives  is  truly  philosophical,  "that  we  can  not  con- 
ceive of  absolute  commencement,"  that  is,  the  beginning 
of  the  series  of  causes  that  unavoidably  brings  about  the 
result.  The  remote  cause  may  have  been  our  organiza- 
tion, education,  health,  and  a  thousand  other  events,  as 
passions,  wants,  etc. 

Upham,  in  his  "Mental  Philosophy,"  page  265,  when 
speaking  of  mental  emotions,  writes  as  follows:  "We 
are  at  first  pleased  or  displeased,  or  have  some  other  emo- 
tion in  view  of  the  thing,  whatever  it  is,  which  has  come 
under  the  cognizance  of  the  intellect.  And  emotions,  in 
the  ordinary  process  of  mental  action,  are  followed  by 
desires.  As  we  can  not  be  pleased  or  displeased  without 
some  antecedent  perception  or  knowledge  of  the  thing 
which  we  are  pleased  or  displeased  with,  so  we  can  not 
desire  to  possess  or  avoid  anything,  without  having  laid 
the  foundation  of  such  desire  in  the  existence  of  some 
antecedent  emotion.  And  this  is  not  only  the  matter  of 
fact  which,  as  the  mind  is  actually  constituted,  is  pre- 
sented to  our  choice,  but  we  can  not  well  conceive  how  it 
could  be  otlierwiHO.  To  desire  a  thing  which  utterly  fails 
to  excite  within  us  the  least  emotion  of  pleasure,  seems  to 


16  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF    MIND. 

be  a  sort  of  solecism  or  absurdity  in  nature :  in  other 
words,  it  seems  to  be  impossible,  from  the  nature  of  things, 
under  any  conceivable  circumstances.  At  any  rate,  it  is 
not  possible,  as  the  mind  is  actually  constituted,  whatever 
miffht  have  been  the  fact,  if  the  mind  had  been  consti- 
tuted  differently." 

Thus  did  this  author,  in  one  of  his  lucid  moments,  argue 
the  case  justly.  But  soon  did  he,  like  Hamilton,  craven 
to  the  cry  of  fatalism,  and  abandoning  sacred  reason,  fall 
back  into  the  interminable  vortex  of  superstitious  mys- 
ticism— a  divine  conscience. 

It  is  to  avoid  the  Gorgon  phantom — this  scare-crow 
word  fatalism,  that  authors  have  traitorously  abandoned 
the  sacred  laws  of  God,  grounded  in  our  constitutions 
and  in  the  kindred  and  causal  relations  of  all  things,  and 
thus  reduced  mental  science  to  that  contempt  which,  in  its 
present  dark  and  vacillating  condition,  it  justly  deserves. 

But  to  i^roceed: — Every  rational  being  acts  with  a  view 
to  some  end,  and  his  desire  for  this  end  is  just  as  certainly 
the  exciting  cause,  of  will  and  action,  as  the  moving  of  a 
body  is  the  result  of  something  that  moves  it,  and  the 
contraction  of  the  heart  the  effect  of  the  stimulus  of  the 
blood  within  it.  I  can  no  more  conceive  of  a  will  beget- 
ting itself  than  of  a  child  begetting  itself.  Both  require 
parents,  and  those  other  parents  on  and  on  through  the 
series  of  ages  to  the  first  man,  Adam,  from  God's  own 

hand. 

We  may  as  well  look  for  new,  spontaneous  and  self- 
created  animals,  in  violation  of  Jehovah's  harmonious 
order  and  causal  dependencies  of  all  things,  as  to  grant 
the  accidents  of  self-creations  of  the  human  will.  I  also 
maintain  that  nothing  can  act  before  it  is — that  is,  when 
it  is  not  and  where  it  is  not;  and  it  is  equally  absurd  to 
admit  that  the  will  can  create  itself  or  move  itself  without 
an  antecedent  or  something  that  causes  it  and  brings  it 


WILL.  17 

forward.  To  say  that  the  will  is  very  different  from  other 
things,  and  that  in  its  own  self-creating  power  it  can 
bring  forth  without  a  parent,  can  act  without  a  motive, 
choose  without  a  choice,  and  prefer  without  a  preference, 
is  to  talk  nonsense,  and  say  nothing  in  support  of  such 
miracles.  All  things  are  different  from  each  other, — no 
two  in  the  wide  world  alike;  and  yet  they  have  their 
laws  stamped  upon  them  from  creation,  that  under  cer- 
tain conditions  each  shall  bring  forth  of  its  own  kind. 
Everything  in  God's  boundless  universe  is  "swi  generis" 
or  in  other  words,  it  is  what  it  is  and  nothing  else.  And 
the  myriad  of  ideas  that  are  impressed  upon  us  are  linked 
results  of  those  objects.  It  is  from  the  necessary  exist- 
ence of  these  laws  that  the  mind  can  regularly  step  from 
effect  to  cause,  on  and  on,  to  the  existence  of  a  God. 
And  it  is  this,  and  this  alone,  that  enables  us  to  infer  the 
future  from  the  past,  and  to  know  that  we  are  identically 
what  we  are,  and  not  by  whim  of  casualty  another,  from 
day  to  day.  The  many  objects  presented  to  the  mind 
from  hour  to  hour  force  us  to  know,  and  to  think,  and  to 
be  led  this  way,  that  or  the  other — to  walk,  to  talk,  to 
cry,  to  laugh,  or  to  be  quiet  and  meditate.  Suppose 
yourself  in  the  midst  of  pleasurable  scenes  that  produce 
merriment  and  mirth,  and  you  are  informed  of  the  sudden 
death  of  one  of  your  family  ;  how  quickly  would  all 
your  feelings  be  unavoidably  changed,  and  a  will  created 
to  move  you  homewards,  which  incident  alone  should  bo 
sufficient  to  show  us  how  the  mind  is  impressed  and  gov- 
erned by  assailing  objects  through  life. 

The  muscles  are  free  to  act,  yet  forced  to  act  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  will,  and  the  will  itself  is  free,  and  yet  forced 
to  act  by  its  motive  ini])nlse— its  ant(^c(!dent  and  ])r<)m])t- 
ing  power.  Tlie  billiard  ball,  in  like  niannei',  is  i'rce  to 
act  when  struck  with  siillicicnt  force  by  another,  and  this 
may  strike  and  freely   move  a   third,  ami    so   on.       IJiit 


18  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OP   MIND. 

when  we  look  back,  we  will  find  that  the  motive  put  the 
first  Avill  in  motion,  and  that  the  mace  or  cue  jDut  the  first 
ball  in  motion.  As  well  might  we  attempt  to  think  with- 
out an  object  of  thought,  as  to  act  without  a  motive  to 
act.  There  is  a  fixed  and  uniform  relation  between 
motive  and  action,  imperious  and  indissoluble  as  the  con- 
nection of  cause  and  effect.  It  is  a  law  of  mentality  that 
the  desire  is  always  prompted  by  the  object  of  desire,  and 
the  deed  will  always  follow  the  desire.  When  asserted 
by  a  free-wilier  that  we  can  do  as  we  will,  see  proper,  are 
disposed,  choose,  prefer,  desire,  have  an  inclination,  or 
mind  to  do,  he  is  right;  and  why?  Simply  because  we 
witness  the  invariable  result;  the  deed,  in  accordance 
with  a  mental  law,  as  before  stated,  following  the  desire. 
Let  us  now,  by  familiar  examj)le  and  by  the  observation 
of  common  sense,  test  the  thing  and  see  how  it  will  work 
out.  The  free-wilier  says  exultingly  to  a  necessarian: 
It  is  folly,  sir,  to  spend  your  breath  in  the  advocation  of 
a  cause  so  repulsive  to  my  intuitive  convictions.  Why, 
sir,  I  am  now  sitting  and  desire  to  rise  and  walk ;  do  n't 
you  see  I  can  do  it ;  and  look  here,  I  will  to  extend  my 
arm,  and  now  to  flex  it,  and  it  is  done.  Truly  it  is,  and 
all  according  to  the  will  or  desire  so  to  do,  and  here  rests 
my  strong  j)osition  against  the  freedom  of  the  will,  as 
understood  and  taught  by  free-will  writers.  Will  or 
desire  being  nothing  more  than  the  bent  of  the  mind  in 
the  choice  of  an  object  or  end  to  be  obtained.  Think  for  a 
moment  what  it  was  that  claimed  the  attention  of  your 
mind  and  caused  it  to  desire  to  rise  and  walk;  then  will 
you  understand  aright  the  subject  under  discussion.  As 
an  honest  thinker,  you  are  compelled  to  admit  that  my 
doctrine  and  doubt  of  your  doctrine  excited  your  ambi- 
tion, and  caused  you  to  desire  to  rise  and  walk,  as  you 
did.  In  this  question  is  the  whole  principle  of  volition 
involved,  and   an  honest  answer   at   once   explodes   the 


WILL.  19 

dogma  of  free-wills  without  an  object  or  antecedent 
cause  of  will.  And  now,  though  your  admission  has 
settled  the  question,  I  ask  you  once  more  to  think  how 
impossible  it  is  to  desire  or  will  for  nothing,  and  conse- 
quently, without  an  object  and  end  of  desire  and  will,  and 
you  can  no  longer  doubt.  Suppose  yourself,  for  instance, 
in  great  want  and  a  sum  of  money  within  your  grasp, 
and  you  were  to  take  it,  would  it  not  be  the  money  which 
claimed  the  bent  of  your  mind  and  caused  the  will  to 
take  it?  Again,  were  you  to  refuse  to  take  it,  would  not 
the  fear  of  detection  or  a  sense  of  moral  turpitude  be  the 
cause  of  that  refusal?  Yes;  and  when  you  will  farther 
think  and  know  there  is  no  alternative  but  to  choose  or 
refuse,  you  must  see  that  the  stronger  motive  seals  the 
fate  of  will  and  action.  Thus,  when  we  find  ample  cause 
for  every  act  of  volition,  why  foolishly  assert  volition 
without  a  cause? 

If  we  could  voluntarily  act  contrary  to  our  desire  or 
will,  and  without  a  causal  object  of  desire  or  will,  then, 
indeed,  would  we  be  free,  but  so  long  as  we  are  forced  to 
act  in  accordance  with  the  promptings  of  the  will  or 
desire,  are  we  under  the  law  of  necessity,  or  in  other 
words,  our  unavoidable  nature ;  for  there  is  not  a  being 
on  earth,  brute  or  human,  but  what  is  endowed  with  a 
susceptibility  of  pleasure  and  pain,  from  which  necessa- 
rily arises  desire  and  aversion,  and  consequently  a  will  to 
do  or  not  to  do,  according  to  circumstances.  Thus  it 
must  now  appear  to  every  reader  that  there  is  no  rational 
possibility  of  a  denial,  but  that  wo  can  do  as  wo  Avill, 
desire,  or  see  proper,  and,  moreover,  that  such  is  the  fixed 
and  immutable  relation  or  tie  between  desire  and  action, 
that  no  man  can  voluntarily  act  contrary  to  his  will  or 
wish  HO  to  do.  This  indissoluble  link,  then,  bclwciii  the 
desire  and  the  deer],  being  established,  it  only  remains  to 
show  iiovv  this  will,  the  cause  of  all   liuinan  action,  is  got. 


20  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

up,  and  whether  it  bo  a  self-created,  self-controlling  and 
independent  entity  in  violation  of  all  the  laws  and  causal 
dependencies  throughout  God's  universe,  or  a  fated  link 
in  the  immutable  and  eternal  chain  of  causality.     Will  is 
not  a  real,  substantial  and  lasting  entity,  any  more  than 
a  shadow,  which  has  no  existence  separate  and  apart  from 
its  substance ;  or  fever,  or  any  other  condition  of  system 
that  depends  upon  its  cause.     Love,  though  powerful  even 
to  death,  cannot  exist  separate  from  the  object  of  love 
that  begets  it,  and  may  be  transformed  by  the  force  of 
circumstances  to  hatred,  and  so  with  all  our  other  passions 
and  emotions,  which  rise  and  sink  forever  like  the  ripples 
upon  a  troubled  stream,  one  hour  placid  and  the  next 
perplexed.     These  ripples  can  not  beget  themselves,  but 
are  produced  by  external  causes;  and  just  so  it  is  with  all 
our  desires,  passions,  and  emotions  of  soul,  which  succeed 
each  other  like  waves  of  the  ocean,  rising  and  subsiding 
by  the  renewed  force  of  circumstances.     We  hunger  and 
desire  food;  we  thirst  and  desii-e  water;  we  are  kindly 
treated  and  love  the  object;  cruelly  treated,  and  hate  it. 
If  cold,  we  approach  the  fire,  because  pleasurable;  but  if 
we  get  into  it  we  seek  to  escape,  because  it  is  painful ;  and 
just  so  it   is  with   the   myriad   feelings  and  consequent 
actions  throughout  life,  each  and  every  object  producing 
its  specific  effect  upon  our  sensibilities,  just  as  plainly  as 
vinegar   tastes   sour   and   sugar   sweet,  or   that   calomel 
purges   and  tartar    pukes,  simply  because   God   has   so 
ordered  it.     This  is  the  doctrine  of  fatality  or  necessity, 
over  which  man  has  no  control,  and  from  which  there  is 
no  escape,  but  by  subverting  the  mandates  of  Heaven  and 
the  eternal  fitness  of  things. 

A  man  to  know  that  he  acts  from  the  strongest  motive 
at  the  moment  he  does  the  act,  has  but  to  feel  his  own 
regrets  at  past  acts  of  his  life,  and  farther  to  see  his  friends 
even  commit  suicide  to  avoid  a  long  life  of  hopeless  deg- 


WILL.  21 

radation  and   misery,  from  irrevocable  deeds  which  he 
would  not  for  the  world  now  commit.     Every  passion  and 
emotion  of  soul,  fi-om  the  fondest  love  to  the  fellest  hate, 
and  from  the  purest  feelings  of  philanthropy  to  the  sordid 
grasp  of  venality,  has  its  motive  object  that  as  certainly 
begets  the  will  as  that  the  parent  begets  the  child,  and 
the  cause  its  unavoidable  effect.      Thus  it  will   be  seen 
that  the  motive  begets  the  will,  and  the  will  begets  the 
deed,  and  further,  that  as  the  motive  is  prior  to  and  inde- 
pendent of  the  will,  the  will  can  no  more  create  the  motive 
or  author  of  its  being  than  a  child  can  beget  its  parent, 
or  an  effect  create  its  cause.     This,  then,  being  a  settled 
point,  we  will  now  illustrate  how  it  is  that  there  can  be 
no  will  without  a  choice,  and  no  choice  without  an  object 
of  choice,  and  as  this  object  of  choice  prompts  the  will  to 
choose,  such  will  can  not  in  the  nature  of  things  be  free. 
For  example,  we  come  to  a  precipice  of  a  thousand  feet, 
to  the  ocean,  or  to  a  great  river;   these  objects  create  a 
desire  or  will  to  avoid  them.     We  find  a  treasure  in  the 
road,  and  at  once  there  is  a  will  to  pick  it  up ;  or  we  are 
cold  or  belated,  and  see  a  fire,  there  is  a  Avill  that  moves 
us  to  it.     We  arc  in  bed  and  wearied  with  one  position, 
there  is  the  will  to  turn  this  way  and  that  way,  or  stretch 
ourselves  out  at  length,  as  ennui  may  prompt  tlve  will  to 
do.     We  sit  down  to  eat,  and  this  dish,  that  dish,  or  other 
may  become  the  motive  to  action,  and  thus  many  wills  be 
created,   and   the  many  muscles  of  cutting,  eating,  and 
swallowing  put  into  motion.     In  dictating,  in  writing,  the 
hand  obeys  the  will,  and  executes  its  myriad  desires  to  the 
letter,  l)ut  the  subject  of  all  this  writing  and  the  object  to 
be  obtained  was  the  aiillioi-  or  parent  of  every  thought 
!ui<l   action,  for  it  must  be  seen  that  we  can  not  Ihiiik 
without  an  object  of  thought,  nor  write  without  somclhing 
to  write  about.     It  has  l)ecn  said  thai  inasmuch  as  all  men 
do  not  act  identically  alike  from   identically  the  same 

8 


22  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

given  motives,  that  the  will  must  have  some  liberty  aside 
from  its  motive,  but  a  slight  observation  of  the  facts  will 
show  that  this  objection  to  the  doctrine  of  necessity  is  a 
shallow  shift,  unprotected  even  by  the  shadow  of  science. 
We  might,  with  equal  propriety,  say  that  digestion  has  a 
liberty,  and  is  not  governed  by  necessary  laws,  because 
the  same  food  does  not  equally  agree  with,  or  act  alike 
upon  all  men.  Medicine  that  claims  no  powers  of  vo- 
lition, sees  proper,  like  the  will,  to  act  very  differently 
upon  different  persons.  A  given  quantity  of  spirits  will 
intoxicate  one  man,  and  not  be  felt  by  another,  and  more 
than  this,  it  will  make  some  men  furious  and  others 
friendly,  showing  plainly  that  it  is  just  as  free  as  the  will 
to  act  by  its  own  whims.  Even  beggars  have  discovered 
the  philosophic  fact  of  the  gastric  and  dietic  influences 
upon  man,  and  that  a  full  stomach  makes  a  generous  soul, 
so  that  they  never  call  for  alms  ujion  an  empty  stomach. 
These  things  I  mention  to  illustrate  how  wonderfully 
the  mind  is  wrought  upon  from  without  as  well  as  from 
within,  and  a  volume  of  such  secret  and  unobserved 
agencies  from  our  physical  organism  and  internal  stimuli 
might  be  given  to  show  that  those  oj^erations  of  the  mind 
not  depending  upon  external  objects,  and  consequently 
called  by  authors  intuitive  thoughts,  divine  monitors, 
angel  whisi^ers,  and  such  like  mystic  powers.  But  I  will 
give  only  one  more  prolific  source  of  mental  development. 
The  annals  of  medical  science  show  that  the  most  intrej^id 
heroes  and  generous  souls  have  been  produced  by  the 
seminal  stimuli,  and  that  quickly  such  souls  may  be  re- 
duced to  cowardice,  roguery,  and  insignificance,  simply 
by  emasculation;  and  history  shows  that  Abelard,  the 
most  eloquent  orator,  profound  philosojiher,  and  divine 
in  the  world  was  instantly  reduced  to  dementation  and 
puerility  in  this  Avay.  We  may  run  through  history  from 
the  days  of  Solomon  and  David,  Caesar  and  Mark  Antony, 


WILL.  23 

to  Napoleon,  Jackson,  Clay,  and  Webster,  as  well  as  all 
others  of  great  note,  for  the  confirmation  of  this  fact. 
AYe  may  also  by  analogy  refer  to  the  stallion,  the  bull, 
the  boar,  and  rooster  for  the  powerful  influence  of  intei*nal 
and  corporeal  stimulants. 

The  history  of  eunuchs  proves  the  fact  that  the  mind 
deprived  of  this  stimulus  becomes  cowardly  and  uni- 
versally false  and  roguish.  The  cause  of  original  thought 
is  not  inherent  in  the  mind,  but,  like  love  and  hatred,  in 
the  objects  beloved  and  hated.  Why,  for  instance,  does  a 
man  not  fall  in  love  with  man,  and  marry  him  instead 
of  a  woman?  Simply  because  the  will-making  cause  or 
motive  power  is  not  in  the  mind,  nor  in  the  man,  but  in 
the  woman,  that  no  authority  short  of  God  can  alter. 
This  is  a  fatality  of  God's  own  appointment,  and  no 
quibbling  writer  can  write  God  out  of  his  rights.  But 
the  question  may  be  asked,  Why  did  such  a  man  fancy 
such  a  woman?  and  the  simple  answer  is  that  he  had  a 
will  so  to  do,  and  could  not  do  otherwise — the  motive  will 
or  cause  being  in  that  particular  woman.  Yes;  but  she  is 
not  to  me  an  object  of  love,  but  is  disgusting.  True;  but 
a  dog  will  leave  a  bed  of  roses  for  a  rotten  carcass  simply 
because  it  is  in  his  nature  so  to  do :  the  cause  of  choice  or 
motive  power  being  in  the  object  chosen.  Biit  could  he 
not  have  married  another  woman,  if  he  had  chosen  so  to 
do?  Certainly  he  could,  and  could  not  have  done  other- 
wise, and  yet  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  do  so  under  the 
circumstances;  because  he  had  no  will  at  the  time  so  to 
act.  A  man  could  as  easily  make  a  good  bargain  as  a 
bad  one,  if  lie  had  the  will  to  do  so,  and  save  himself 
many  sore  regrets ;  but  I  ask  the  honest  thinker  to  say 
whether  the  present  cii'cumstances  of  the  moment  did  not 
beget  tiie  will  of  a  bad  bargain.  To  farther  show  tlie 
contr(jlling  influence  of  motive  power  over  the  will,  and 
demonstrate  that  the  will  does  not  beget  itself,  I  will  give 


24  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

an  additional  case.  Suppose  two  boxes,  exactly  alike  in 
appearance,  be  presented  to  the  mind  for  choice,  but  one 
is  known  to  be  filled  with  rich  jewelry,  and  the  other 
empty.  Now  the  mind  will  be  in  equipoise  suspense,  and 
no  choice  for  the  moment  can  by  any  freedom  of  the  will 
be  made ;  but  let  it  be  seen  or  said,  in  this  box  are  the 
precious  diamonds,  and  how  quickly  does  that  box  beget 
the  will  to  take  it.  These  are  simple  and  undeniable 
facts,  showing  demonstratively  that  in  every  case  there 
must  be  some  motive  or  impulse  which  excites  the  will. 
Yanity,  ambition,  love,  hatred,  gain,  and  ten  thousand 
other  causes  of  human  will  and  action  are  found  to  have 
their  governing  influences  over  the  human  mind.  When 
I  say  to  a  man,  he  cannot  raise  his  arm,  and  he  in  triumph 
and  defiance  does  so,  my  voice  and  the  ambition  excited 
that  will,  which  otherwise  would  not  have  existed. 

Suppose  a  jet-black  object  be  presented  to  the  eye, 
could  a  man,  if  he  had  a  mind  so  to  do,  will  or  believe  it 
white?  Most  certainly  he  could,  if  he  had  a  mind  to  do 
so ;  but  here,  as  in  all  other  cases,  it  would  be  impossible 
for  him  to  have  siich  a  mind  or  will  without  the  ability 
to  change  the  object  itself  that  begets  the  will.  And 
now  this  single  case  should  decide  the  whole  question 
about  free  will;  for  if  the  mind  can  not  change  black  to 
white,  nor  sugar  to  vinegar,  the  convictions  or  determina- 
tions of  the  mind  are  governed  by  the  nature  of  things; 
and  as  the  will  is  the  mind,  it  cannot  in  the  nature  of 
things  be  free.  Suppose,  again,  that  a  Catholic  should 
say  to  a  Protestant,  If  you  have  a  will,  joii  can  believe 
that  the  holy  faith  of  the  Pope  is  the  only  true  religion 
on  earth,  and  if  you  do  not,  you  shall  be  put  to  death ; 
would  this,  I  ask,  change  his  honest  convictions,  or  would 
it  give  him  a  will  to  hate  his  cruel  and  unjust  oppressor? 
These  facts  should,  surely,  give  us  a  more  brotherly  toler- 
ance and  kind  forgiveness  for  each  other's  opinions,  which 


WILL.  25 

I  teach  to  be  as  variant  and  imavoidable  as  our  physical 
and  mental  appetencies. 

I  have  thus  somewhat  digressed,  in  order  to  occupy  the 
whole  of  the  ground,  and  in  some  instances  have  thought 
it  well  to  pass  over  it  more  than  once,  in  order  to  fix  the 
ground-rights  more  fully  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader. 

There  is  no  subject  that  can  engage  the  thought  or  fix 
the  conviction  of  mankind  so  firmly  and  so  universally  as 
the  consciousness  of  being  able  to  do  as  we  will  or  please, 
and  the  fault  of  necessarians  heretofore  has  been  to 
oppose  this  self-evident  fact;  for  certainly  we  can  do  as 
we  please,  as  I  often  assert,  and  cannot,  to  save  our  lives, 
voluntarily  do  otherw^ise;  and  yet  this  granted  fact  does 
not  derogate  in  the  least  from  the  laws  of  necessity;  but, 
on  the  contrar}',  shows  the  fixed  and  indissoluble  relation 
between  motive,  will,  and  action — the  motive  having 
control  over  the  will,  and  the  will  over  the  muscles.  The 
deception  here  is  that  we  only  feel  the  two  last  links  in 
the  moving  chain,  which  are  certainly  free  to  move,  or 
they  would  not  move ;  but  we  never  look  back  to  the 
fixed  and  antecedent  links  that  necessarily  move  the  last 
series  in  that  chain.  If  it  be  said  that  the  will  is  not 
material,  and  therefore  exempt  from  the  laws  of  depend- 
ence or  necessity,  I  answer  that  an  agent  as  potent  and 
productive  as  the  will  must  have  an  existence,  and  what- 
ever has  an  existence  must  have  come  into  existence,  and 
as  it  can  not  have  created  itself  before  itself  was  or  had 
an  existence,  it  must  of  positive  necessity  have  an  imme- 
diate antecedent  or  cause  that  excited  it  for  the  occasion, 
and  shaped  it  to  suit  the  occasion,  or  it  is  uncreated  and 
self-existent  from  all  eternity,  as  many  authors  teach,  and 
that  our  thoughts  are  emanations  from  the  eternal  God- 
head. If  the  will's  self-existence  frf)m  all  eternity  be  as- 
sumed, it  must  be  a  definite  character;  that  is,  it  must  l)c 
what  it  was  in  the  beginning,  and  nothing  else;  and  il' 


26  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OP   MIND. 

of  this  identical  character,  it  can  no  more  alter  itself,  or 
shape  itself  to  the  emergencies  of  life  than  it  can  create 
itself  Then  how,  I  ask,  will  this  gratuitous  assumption 
of  free  will  apply  to  the  uses  of  life?  From  day  to  day, 
hour  to  hour,  from  minute  to  minute,  are  our  actions 
called  for,  according  to  the  necessities  of  our  nature,  and 
this  unchangeable  statue  of  an  eternal  will  cannot  supply 
or  serve  our  wants.  It  is  easy  for  the  common  reader  to 
see,  that  if  Grod  were  created,  that  as  certainly  as  the 
mechanic  is  superior  to  his  work,  would  God's  creator  be 
superior  to  Grod  himself,  who,  we  afiirm,  has  no  superior. 
It  is  equally  axiomatic  that  God  cannot  have  created 
himself,  as  to  do  so  would  be  to  suppose  a  thing  designing 
and  creating  itself  before  it  had  itself  an  existence,  which 
is  the  same  as  to  say  that  a  thing  can  be  and  can  not  be 
at  the  same  time,  or  that  it  can  act  when  it  is  not  and 
where  it  is  not.  Many  divines  have  gone  so  far,  and 
most  truthfully  so,  as  to  say  that  God  has  not  given  to  the 
mind  to  conceive  how  he  could  himself  create  something 
from  nothing,  and  hence,  that  it  is  most  rational  to  sup- 
l)ose  that  matter,  or  the  materials  of  which  he  has  formed 
all  things,  was  self-existent,  co-eternal,  and  co-extensive 
with  himself  Then,  having  taken  from  God  a  self-cre- 
ating power,  shall  we  impiously  assign  to  the  human 
mind — a  created  being,  a  power  suj)erior  to  Jehovah,  a 
self-creating  power,  in  defiance  of  the  nature  and  fitness 
of  things,  and  against  all  motives  for  good  or  evil. 

This  is  the  naked  and  ridiculous  position  of  a  free- 
wilier,  for,  if  not  governed  by  existing  causes  and  wants 
that  hourly  assail  our  sensibilities  from  without  and  from 
within,  it  must,  independently  of  all  these  potencies,  cre- 
ate its  own  causes.  Thus  must  an  effect  create  its  cause 
contrary  to  every  principle  and  law  that  sustains  the  har- 
monious universe,  and  leads  us,  step  by  step,  through  the 
unerring  jiaths  of  causality  up  to  the  throne  of  God — the 


WILL.  27 

first  and  only  cause  of  all  created  existence.  If  the  will 
could  create,  annihilate  or  alter  the  nature  of  things  we 
will  or  desire  to  obtain,  then,  indeed,  could  the  will  be 
free,  not  only  to  create  its  objects  or  causes,  but  to  create 
and  annihilate  itself  at  pleasure.  But  suppose  a  will 
to  annihilate  itself,  where  is  the  next  will,  out  of  the 
thousands  which  daily  arise,  to  come  from  ?  K  we  could 
suppose  them  to  create  themselves  before  themselves  had 
an  existence,  still  it  would  be  a  puzzle  how  they  could 
come  fitted  exactly  to  the  object  we  desire  to  obtain 
without  any  causal  dependence  upon  that  object.  If  we 
desire  bread,  and  earth  be  presented,  we  have  no  will  to 
eat  it,  nor  can  the  will  convert  it  into  bread,  and  conse- 
quently, is  forced  to  act  upon  the  inherent  nature  of 
things.  Suppose,  again,  that  putrid  flesh  be  given  you  to 
eat,  the  senses  would  at  once  revolt  against  it,  and  there 
would  be  no  will  to  take  it,  nor  could  your  will,  with  all 
its  creative  power  (so  falsely  given  it,)  convert  it  into 
savory  flesh ;  and  yet  you  might  have  a  will  given  you  to 
eat  it.  Ten  thousand  dollars  in  gold  laid  down  might 
beget  a  will  that  could  not  beget  itself  or  act  contrary  to 
the  nature  of  things  desired.  The  gold  now  becomes  the 
object  of  desire  and  the  prompting  cause  of  the  will  to 
take  it. 

That  our  minds  are  inclined  by  something  that  inclines 
them,  cannot  be  denied,  and  to  suppose  a  volition  counter 
to  the  prevailing  inclination,  is  contrary  to  all  experience, 
so  that  our  volitions  cannot  be  free  and  independent  of 
motives.  It  is  by  the  laws  of  necessity  alone  that  we  can 
know  the  certainty  of  anything  physical  or  mental.  If 
the  mind  be  left  to  chance,  the  study  of  it,  and  the  inferring 
a  man's  future  conduct  from  his  past  character,  is  all  in 
vain.  And  why  lecture,  preach,  or  teach,  if  those  im- 
pressions are  not  to  influence  the  niiiKl?  Tlie  law  of 
necessity  is  nothing  more  tluin  tlie  law  ol'tiod,  establislied 


28  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

to  make  all  things  sure.  It  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
that  indissoluble  relation  between  cause  and  effect,  and 
but  for  the  full  conviction  of  all  mankind  in  the  fact,  and 
his  reliance  upon  it,  all  transactions  of  life  would  cease. 
Why  eat  and  drink,  or  cultivate  the  soil,  hoping  to  be 
sustained  thereby,  but  from  our  confidence  in  the  doctrine 
of  necessity ;  and  why  offer  rewards  or  punishments,  or  set 
examples  to  good  and  evil,  if  there  be  no  necessary  con- 
nection between  these  things  and  the  convictions  of  the 
mind.  We  can  as  certainly  anticipate  the  operations  of 
the  will,  when  temptations  are  set  to  excite  it,  as  we  can 
the  products  of  our  crop,  or  the  explosion  of  powder  by 
the  touch  of  the  spark.  It  may  not  always  succeed  from 
unseen  and  counteracting  causes,  nor  may  the  powder 
always  explode,  being  wet  or  otherwise  imperfect.  The 
chemist,  though  acting  upon  the  necessary  laws  of  science, 
is  as  often  disajjpointed  in  his  results  from  the  endless  and 
unseen  counteracting  influences,  as  the  man  well  ac- 
quainted with  human  nature  is  of  the  anticipations  of  his 
results.  The  physician,  in  like  manner,  is  constantly 
perplexed  and  disaj^pointed  in  the  sequences  of  his  pre- 
scriptions ;  for  though  calomel  be  a  jDurgative,  and  tartar 
will  puke,  calomel  may  vomit,  and  tartar  purge,  from 
some  necessary  existing,  yet  unseen,  condition  of  system. 
Constitution,  temperament,  and  disease  that  blunt  or 
sharpen  the  sensibilities,  and  a  thousand  other  causes 
from  without  and  within,  may  intervene  to  disappoint  our 
anticijiations,  and  yet  the  laws  of  mentality  are  just  as 
certain  as  those  of  matter,  wherein  we  are  also  as  often 
disappointed.  If  a  rock  be  cast  into  the  air,  the  law  of 
gravitation  will  certainly  bring  it  to  the  earth,  yet  it  may 
lodge  upon  some  intervening  object,  and  not  fall;  so  in  the 
like  manner  if  you  offer  a  miser  two  dollars  for  one,  the 
law  of  motive  will  certainly  control  his  will  to  take  them. 


WILL.  29 

but  should  a  suspicion  intervene  that  there  is  a  trick  in 
it,  he  will  not  do  so. 

These  are  no  exceptions  to  the  uniform  laws,  both  of 
mind  and  matter,  but  the  very  proof  of  it,  each  counter- 
acting law  producing  its  legitimate  eifect.  A  feather  may 
start  in  a  direct  line  in  the  air  and  yet  be  driven  in  a 
thousand  whirls  and  zig-zag  directions;  but  in  every 
motion  it  has  a  definite  cause.  So  it  is  with  mind :  it  may 
be  carried  here,  there  and  elsewhere,  just  as  motives  may 
be  presented  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  strength.  A  man 
may  start  to  a  designated  spot  and  yet  be  driven  from 
that  spot  in  various  dii'ections  by  the  cry  of  fire,  of  mur- 
der, and  other  deterring  or  attractive  sounds  or  sights. 
Here  were  no  self-creations  of  will  which  were  produced 
by  ample  causes  over  which  he  had  no  control;  and  this 
will  be  found  to  be  the  case  in  every  action  throughout 
]ife.  The  will  or  desire  is  invariably  excited  either  by 
external  or  internal  causes,  and  the  action  will  as  infallibly 
and  unavoidably  follow  the  will  or  desire  to  act,  as  the 
will  itself  follows  the  motive.  Why  then  talk  of  a  free 
will  without  motives  in  such  case  any  more  than  the  free- 
dom of  the  billiard  ball  to  move  without  a  cause,  when 
struck  with  sufficient  force  to  move  it.  If  the  ball,  when 
struck,  had  the  feeling  that  we  have,  it  would  at  once  de- 
clare its  freedom  to  move,  as  we  do  when  we  feel  the 
stroke  or  liberty  given  us  by  the  will  or  desire  to  move, 
This  might  seem  to  a  careless  reader  a  surrender  of  the 
point.  But  not  so,  for  I  have  previously  granted  that  the 
action  or  motion  (for  there  is  no  action  without  motion) 
is  not  only  at  liberty  to  follow  or  proceed  from  the  will, 
but  is  forced  to  do  so,  and  is-  just  as  much  under  the  law 
of  necessity  as  is  the  ball  under  the  law  of  the  impinging 
power. 

It  is  a  conmioti  and  silly  remark  that  we  do  many 
things  which  we  •!<)   not   want  to  do,  whi<Ii    tniiKl  bo  seen 

4 


30  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

to  be  a  glaring  inconsistency.  I  will  give  a  few  striking 
examples  to  show  the  fallacy  of  this  position.  When  a 
man  goes  to  the  stake  voluntarily  for  his  religions 
opinions,  it  may  be  said  that  he  dies  unwillingly  and 
without  a  motive.  But  this,  when  investigated,  will  be 
found  to  be  false;  he,  having  a  motive  stronger  even  than 
the  miser,  who  exchanges  one  dollar  for  two,  for  he 
exchanges  temjDorary  torments  for  eternal  happiness. 
Again,  we  set  ourselves  up  to  be  shot  at  in  a  duel,  or  walk 
to  the  gallows  voluntarily  to  be  hanged,  which,  when 
understood,  constitute  no  exceptions  to  the  necessity  of 
will. 

It  may  here  be  taunted  then,  that  we  must  prefer  death 
to  life.  But  not  so ;  we  are  forced  to  the  gallows  by  the 
unavoidable  laws  of  necessity,  from  which  the  poor  will, 
this  non-caused  and  self-created  being,  has  no  escape. 
We  walk  to  the  gallows  like  a  man,  rather  than  be 
dragged  there  and  hung  like  a  dog;  and  we  prop  our- 
selves up  to  be  shot  at  in  a  duel  in  order  to  escape  a 
greater  evil — the  blighting  clamor  of  cowardice  and  dis- 
grace. We  submit  willingly  to  the  loss  of  a  limb  rather 
than  the  loss  of  life,  but  unwillingly  if  we  could  will  it 
otherwise.  The  man  who  commits  suicide  weighs  his 
motives,  and  prefers  instant  death  to  a  long  and  lingering 
life  of  hopeless  misery.  I  introduce  these  graphic  cases 
to  show  that  the  mind  is  the  subject  of  circumstances  or 
motives  that  surround  us  and  force  themselves  ujDon  us 
from  day  to  day,  and  that  it  has  no  power  to  create,  anni- 
hilate, or  alter  these  motives  that  beget  the  will  and  force 
it  to  action.  To  test  the  sovereign  power  of  this  non- 
caused  cause,  this  deceptive  sound,  this  wonderful  thing- 
less  thing,  called  wnll,  let  us  exercise  it  awhile  and  see 
what  it  can  of  itself  do.  Can  it  create  a  desire  or  will  ? 
No;  because  it  is  itself  a  desire  or  will,  and  not  a  cause, 
but  a  result;  not  a  principle,  but  an  agent;  the  mere 


WILL.  31 

creature  or  menial  of  a  motive.  Can  it  create  a  thought? 
No;  nor  get  rid  of  one.  Can  it  soothe  a  pain?  JSTo;  nor 
cure  a  fever.  Can  it  put  us  to  sleep  when  restless  and 
worn  out  upon  our  beds  ?  No.  CaQ  it  make  a  blind  man 
see,  or  a  deaf  one  hear?  No.  Can  it  create  a  single 
idea  ?  No ;  no  more  than  it  can  create  a  world.  Then, 
what  can  it  do  more  than  move  as  a  fated  link  in  the  ad- 
amantine chain  of  mental  causality — the  first  link  of 
which  is  held  by  the  hand  of  Almighty  Power  ?  In  test- 
ing this  creative  power  or  inventive  will  a  little  farther, 
we  will  see  that  it  can  not  call  up  a  single  idea  that  has 
not  already  been  impressed  upon  the  mind,  through  our 
senses  by  the  external  world.  Nor  can  the  mind  by  any 
power  of  will  even  call  up  those  ideas  at  pleasure  that 
have  once  been  before  the  mind.  We  are  apt  thought- 
lessly to  say  that  we  can  think  of  anything  or  any  idea 
we  may  will  to  think  of  I  think  of  London  or  of  Paris, 
for  instance.  Yes;  but  London  and  Paris  were  in  my 
mind,  and  the  objects  of  thought;  or,  in  other  words, 
they  were  thought  of  before  I  could  name  them  as  objects 
of  thought.  Think,  and  you  will  find  it  to  be  impossible 
to  think  without  a  thought,  or  the  existence  of  a  causal 
and  prompting  object  of  thought.  I  know  we  can  think 
as  we  think,  live  as  we  live,  and  die  as  we  die,  and  can 
not,  to  save  our  lives,  help  it.  I  say  to  you :  now  think 
of  Adam,  and  you  can  not  lielp  but  do  so;  and  now  cease 
to  think,  and  the  more  you  try  to  cast  ofi"  thought  the 
more  you  think.  But  now  I  say  call  up  the  Hebrew 
language  and  read  a  single  sentence,  and  you  can  not,  by 
any  power  of  will,  do  so;  and  the  reason  is,  as  I  often 
repeat  it,  we  have  no  innate  ideas;  nor  have  we  a  will  that 
can  create  or  get  rid  of  an  idea;  and,  consequently,  the 
mind  has  no  knowledge  but  what  is  forced  upon  it. 

One   may   say:    I   can  see  any  object  you  may  name 
within  the  sphere  of  my  vision,  which  is  true;  and  more 


32  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

than  this,  such  person,  with  open  eyes,  could  not,  to  save 
his  life,  avoid  seeing.  Now,  open  your  eyes  to  mid- 
day, but  do  n't  see  light  or  any  anything  around  you ;  and 
you  must  reply,  in  the  language  of  fate,  I  can  not  help 
seeing  light  and  all  things  around  me.  I  might  say  to  a 
man  :  "  Now,  think  of  Heaven ;"  and  he  can  not  only  do  so, 
but  can  not  help  doing  so.  My  voice  having  put  Heaven 
into  his  head — a  name  or  thought  that  otherwise  could 
not  have  been  there,  and  consequently  could  not  have 
been  thought  of  without  being  there.  A  person  may 
affirm  that  they  can  think  of  what  they  please,  or  name 
any  person  they  may  see  proper ;  for  instance,  that  they 
will  name  and  think  of  "Washington.  But  here,  as  in  the 
other  case,  Washington  was  thought  of  before  they  could 
name  him  as  the  object  of  thought.  Now,  all  this  is  as 
simply  and  plainly  true  as  it  is  possible  for  any  proposi- 
tion to  be. 

But  reflect  upon  these  facts  for  a  moment,  and  you  will 
see  how  impossible  and  how  ludicrous  the  position  of 
being  able  to  think  as  we  please,  without  that  very  object 
of  thought  being  present  and  prompting  us  to  think,  is. 
Now,  I  ask,  in  the  name  of  common  honesty,  can  we  call 
up  a  thing  by  its  proper  name  without  knowing  the  name 
of  that  thing,  or  think  of  an  object  that  is  not  an  object, 
or,  in  other  words,  has  no  existence,  or  which  is  the  same 
thing,  is  not  already  in  the  mind,  and  the  immediate  ob- 
ject of  thought.  I  might  say,  now,  think  of  what  I  am 
thinking  of;  when  your  proper  answer  would  be:  "I  can 
not  do  so,  but  I  can  think  of  what  I  am  thinking  of 
myself"  Thus,  if  the  reader  will  go  on  slowly  and  care- 
fully, he  will  see  that  it  is  as  impossible  to  call  for  a  thing 
without  knowing  what  to  call  for,  as  to  speak  a  language 
that  is  not  in  his  mind,  and  of  which  he  has  no  knowledge. 
Nor  can  he  think  of  a  thing  without  having  that  very 
thought  already  in  his  mind.     I  have  here  repeated  the 


WILL.  -  33 

view,  and  turned  the  picture  about  to  show  the  careless 
observer  how  obvious  the  fact  is,  that  we  can  not  create 
or  originate  anything,  and  that  all  our  actions  proceed 
from  will  or  desire,  and  that  will  or  desire  is  begot  by- 
motives  that  we  did  not  create,  and  over  which  we  have 
no  more  control  than  the  eye  has  over  light,  or  the  ear 
over  sound,  when  sensitive  and  assailed.  The  blind  man 
can  not,  by  any  exertion  of  will,  see ;  no,  nor  think  of 
light ;  yet  open  his  eyes  with  visual  impressibility  and  he 
can  not  avoid  light.  He  then  becomes  the  subject  of  this 
self-evident  doctrine  of  necessity.  He  can  not  open  his 
eyes  to  mid  day  and  think  it  or  will  it  to  be  midnight ; 
nor  can  he  look  around  him  and  not  have  the  objects  that 
there  exist,  as  has  been  shown,  fatally  forced  upon  him. 

This  is  necessity — the  immutable  and  eternal  law  of 
God's  own  mechanism  ;  and  why  eschew  or  impiously  op- 
pose it  ? 

As  the  words  will  and  desire-  are  of  the  same  import, 
and  the  term  desire  being  expressive  and  less  ambiguous, 
I  shall  frequently  use  it  in  the  course  of  this  essay.  We 
have  all  our  lives  been  in  the  habit  of  giving  to  the  word 
will  complicated  and  wonderful  powers,  but  which,  when, 
analyzed,  we  find  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  simple  re- 
sult, the  product  of  motive ;  and  yet  it  is  like  all  other  in- 
veterate habits — hard  to  be  broken  of  their  faults  and 
mischievous  associations.  It  is  this  false  association  that 
has  produced  so  much  bewildering,  ludicrous  and  dis- 
graceful contentions  amongst  divines  in  their  heated  dis- 
cussions upon  the  subject  of  will.  As  for  example :  be- 
tween Rev.  Jonathan  Edwards  and  Dr.  Whitby,  with  a 
score  of  Armenian  pigmies,  who  have  pounced  upon  hiiu 
with  their  vulgar  prejudices  and  vociferous  uniiK'aiiings 
of  free-will. 

Presuming  that  the  testimony  furnished  the  reader  has 
proven  to  his  satisfaction  that  God  has  so  coustitutcd  us 


34  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

in  mind  and  body,  that  will  or  desire  shall  be  the  imme- 
diate precursor  of  all  human  action,  from  the  tongue  that 
speaks  to  the  feet  that  walk,  and  the  hands  that  execute, 
we  will  ascend  one  step  higher  in  the  ladder  of  truth. 
Feeling,  then,  that  all  our  acts  are  the  result  of  will,  and 
seeing  that  will  can  not,  from  any  possible  contingent  or 
law  under  God's  universe,  have  created  itself,  we  shall 
next  search  more  fully  for  its  cause.  I  here  call  the 
attention  of  the  reader  to  the  great  and  universal  doctrine 
of  dualism^  which  I  have  laid  down  as  of  my  own  discov- 
ery and  application  to  mind  as  well  as  matter — namely, 
that  there  is  nothing  in  God's  universe  which  can  create 
itself  or  act  upon  itself — showing  the  law  of  mutual  de- 
pendencies throughout  all  nature.  Thus  informed,  we 
see  that  mind  can  not  act  upon  itself,  as  it  is  itself,  nor 
can  it  desire  a  nothing;  and  hence  is  positively  dependent 
uj)on  its  existent  and  natural  objects  Of  desire  for  all  its 
wants,  wishes,  wills,  and  acts.  Why  is  there  a  universal 
will  to  secure  diamonds  instead  of  pebbles,  and  gold  in 
preference  to  lead,  but  for  the  qualities  in  those  objects, 
the  nature  of  which  the  mind  can  not  alter ;  and  any  man 
who  will  affirm  we  are  not  fatally  bound  by  the  nature  of 
things  as  things  are  is  either  ignorant  or  dishonest. 

Excuse  me  in  giving  a  short  explanation  of  the  nature 
of  dualism.  In  conversation  with  a  learned  divine,  pres- 
ident of  the  first  college  in  the  West,  and  a  lecturer  of 
science  for  twenty  years,  he  admitted  the  general  appli- 
cation of  my  doctrine  ;  but,  pausing  for  a  moment,  asked, 
rather  tauntingly,  But  where  is  your  dualism  when  a  man 
cuts  his  own  throat;  does  he  not  operate  upon  himself? 
Nominally,  sir,  he  does ;  but  in  reality  does  not.  Man  is 
a  generic  term,  and  a  universe  within  himself,  and,  like 
the  vast  universe,  made  up  of  many  parts.  The  stomach, 
though  belonging  to  the  same  system,  is  not  the  liver,  nor 
is  the  liver  the  lungs  or  heart ;  which  fact  answers  the 


WILL.  35 

question  negatively  and  confirms  my  position.     The  mind 
determines  the  deed,  and  the  muscles,  through  the  nerves, 
execute  it — the  mind  acting  upon  the  nerves,  the  nerves 
upon  the  muscles,  the  muscles  upon  the  knife,  and  the 
knife  upon  the  throat.     But  now  take  notice :  the  mind — 
the  author  of  the  act — is  not  the  body,  nor  the  throat,  but 
a  part  of  that  chain  of  causal  events  that  cut  the  throat ; 
which  throat  did  not,  nor  could  not,  cut  itself.     A  motive 
forced   the   mind,  and   the   mind's   menials  grasped  the 
knife,  which  knife  did  the  cutting ;  so  we  see  the  throat 
did  not  cut  itself     I  know  I  am  a  part  of  the  universe,  as 
the  throat  is  a  part  of  the  human  system ;   but  I  also 
know  that  I  am  not  the  universe,  nor  the  author  of  all 
that  takes  place  in  the  universe ;  but  a  subject  to  be  acted 
upon  by  the  fatal  laws  that  have  forced  me  into  exis- 
tence   and   will    eventually  force    me  out  of   existence. 
Now,  though  all  the  wheels  of  a  time-piece,  like  the  parts 
of  the  human  system,  are  in  active  play,  no  one  wheel 
acts  upon  itself,  but  is  acted  upon  by  others,  and  the 
whole  is  dependent  upon  the  main-spring  that  gives  the 
law  of  motion  ;   which  main-spring  was  not  self-created, 
but  dependent  upon  an  antecedent  agency,  and  that  again 
upon  the  material  created  and  the  law  designed  by  the 
First  Great  Cause  of  all  existence  and  all  motion.     The 
seed  put  in  the  ground  did  not  create  itself,  nor  can  it 
sprout  or  grow  but  by  the  fatal  laws  of  its  unavoidable 
nature  and  the  vitalizing  elements  that  force  it  forward, 
and  by  its  limited  time  force  it  out  of  existence.     Just  so 
with  the  human  system — mind  and  body — nothing  self- 
created,   nothing  self-sustaining,   or  self-moved;    but  all 
are  forced  conditions — dualistic  and  dynamic.     The  aggre- 
gated universe,  of  which  man  is  but  a  part,  is  governed 
in  like  manner.     The  celestial  orbs,  that  roll  tlieir  bidden 
and  eternal  rounds  through  trackless  sj)ace,  are  i-iiled  by 
the  law  of  dualism.     Nor  is  the  human  mind,  which  can 


36  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF   MIND. 

not  think  without  an  object  of  thought,  noi*  act  without  a 
motive  to  act,  any  exception  to  the  fatal  law  of  duality — 
not  being  able  to  do  anything  of  itself — all  our  ideas 
being  begotten  by  the  action  of  objects  upon  the  sub- 
jective mind,  just  as  the  child  is  begotten  by  the  union  of 
the  father  and  mother.  An  alkali  can  not  act  upon  itself, 
nor  can  an  acid ;  but  bring  the  two  in  contact,  and  an 
action  takes  place,  and  a  new  being,  like  an  idea,  comes 
into  existence. 

We  can  not  voluntarily  act  without  a  desire  or  choice 
BO  to  act,  and  desire  as  unavoidably  implies  an  object  of 
desire  that  begets  it  as  the  word  "son"  implies  a  father 
who  begot  him.  Trace  back  the  death  and  the  reproduc- 
tion of  man  through  mouldering  ages  to  the  first  man, 
Adam,  or  glance  forward  through  ceaseless  duration  to 
the  last  man  who  may  hang  upon  the  verge  of  time,  and 
there  will  not  be  found  a  single  gap  or  broken  link  in  this 
eternal  chain  of  causality.  Pause  but  for  a  moment  and 
think  of  these  things,  and  how  impossible  the  doctrine  of 
casualism  must  be;  for  if  God  had  created  things  contin- 
gently, and  allowed  beings  to  come  into  existence  without 
a  designated  and  fixed  cause,  the  world  would  be  filled 
with  new  nondescript  and  motley  sjjontaneities  without 
an  archetype,  and  without  the  pale  of  God's  government, 
so  that  we  are  preserved  only  by  the  uniform  laws  of 
Providence ;  in  other  words,  divine  fatality.  These  are 
the  fixed  and  immutable  laws  of  Supreme^isdom,  and  is 
as  applicable  to  mind  as  to  matter.  Every  motive  or 
object  of  desire  begets  its  appropriate  desire,  or  will ;  and 
all  our  movements,  improperly  called  free  volitions,  are  as 
much  forced  as  the  rifle  ball  is  forced  by  the  powder 
behind  it.  The  ball  has  no  liberty  but  to  obey  the 
impulse,  and  human  action  has  no  liberty  but  to  obey  the 
will,  and  the  will  itself  no  liberty  but  to  obey  the  cause, 
the  motive,  or  impinging  power  behind  it.     I  will  to  raise 


WILL.  37 

my  arm,  and  it  is  done;  I  will  to  walk,  and  the  limbs  are 
put  in  motion.  Now,  the  motive  here,  whether  from  a 
banter  or  from  the  ten  thousand  other  incitements,  caused 
the  will,  and  the  will  caused  the  muscular  motion.  The 
powder  explodes,  and  the  ball  is  driven  before  it.  In  like 
manner,  the  steam  is  let  upon  the  engine,  and  the  vessel 
is  put  in  motion.  But  in  neither  case  is  there  a  self-ci*e- 
ating  and  independent  power.  But  for  the  spark  that 
causes  the  explosion,  and  gives  it  its  quickening  poAver, 
the  powder  would  remain  forever  unexploded  and  power- 
less. In  like  manner  would  the  mighty  engine,  the  will 
of  the  vessel  that  sends  or  makes  it  walk  with  magic 
power  through  the  waters,  remain  a  lifeless  tool,  as  it  is, 
but  for  the  steam  that  is  let  upon  it.  In  this  case,  every- 
body looks  at  the  astounding  might  of  the  working 
engine  as  it  wields  the  ponderous  mass,  without  thinking 
of  the  power  behind  it;  and  just  so  it  is  with  the  work- 
ings of  the  will  upon  the  human  body.  Every  one  sees 
and  feels  the  energies  of  the  engine  will,  without  looking 
at  or  feeling  the  silent  motive-power  behind  it,  that 
begets  it  and  forces  it  to  act  just  as  it  does  act.  We  ditfer 
greatly  in  regard  to  the  potency  of  this  will  or  engine, 
and  the  regularity  of  its  action  for  good  or  evil,  owing  to 
our  mechanism,  constitution,  temperament,  prejudice  of 
education,  and  to  the  interminable  aptitudes  to  the  im- 
pulses of  passion,  and  of  the  impressions  that  arc 
momentarily  made  upon  our  sensitive  being  through  life. 
Precisely  so  with  a  vessel  of  less  complicacy ;  yet,  from 
defect  in  construction,  or  from  the  machinery  becoming 
deranged,  it  may  go  astray  like  the  madman,  and  even  be 
reversed  in  its  motion  ;  but  it  is  still  moved  by  the  same 
engine  without  violation  of  principle — not  being  able  to 
alter  it.'*  own  condition.  The  deranged  man  is  under  the 
same  necessity,  yet  he  is  governed  by  the  same  principle 
as  a  sane  man,  who  has  not  a  jur  or  a  crack,  or  a  screw 


38  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OP   MIND. 

loose  in  his  system.  He  is  governed  in  all  his  various 
and  apparently  inconsistent  movements  by  his  firm  and 
honest  convictions,  or  that  same  will  forced  upon  him  by 
external  circumstances,  or  excited  within  by  the  feverish 
or  otherwise  disordered  condition  of  his  system.  Nor  is 
there  any  escape  from  the  workings  of  this  engine  will, 
as  long  as  the  steam  is  let  upon  it.  If  the  steam  wears 
down  or  becomes  exhausted,  the  will  of  the  vessel  no 
longer  works,  and  the  vessel  sleeps.  Identically  so  it  is 
with  the  mind — when  the  sensorial  power  or  steam  be- 
comes exhausted  by  over-working,  the  engine  will  cease 
and  the  body  sleeps;  but  the  stomach,  like  the  furnace  of 
the  vessel,  being  constantly  supplied  by  food  or  fuel,  the 
steam  is  again  and  again  renewed. 

We  can  not  have  a  sensation  of  any  kind,  whether  of 
pleasure  or  pain,  but  that  there  is  a  desire  or  will  got  up 
to  do  or  not  to  do — in  other  words,  to  embrace  or  avoid. 
Even  when  asleep,  and  the  doors  of  knowledge  are  closed 
to  the  external  world,  the  laws  of  the  animal  economy 
are  such  that  we  are  stirred  by  functional  influences  to 
pleasure  or  pain,  and  often  to  act,  as  though  we  were 
awake.  When  the  bowels  are  disturbed,  we  dream  of 
stooling;  the  bladder,  of  urinating;  when  hungry,  of 
eating ;  when  thirsty,  of  water  and  drinking ;  and  there 
are  many  other  normal  and  abnormal  phenomena,  all 
arising  from  a  definite  organism,  and  the  uniform  and 
fixed  relation  between  mind  and  body7  and  which  is  as 
indissoluble  as  the  tie  between  cause  and  effect.  Both  in 
the  cases  of  somnambulism  and  somniloquism  the  uncon- 
scious will,  stirred  by  internal  forces,  puts  our  machinery 
in  motion.  The  sensible  observer  may  daily  see  that 
when  his  dog  is  asleep  and  dreaming  of  the  chase  he  will 
bark,  while  his  legs  are  in  motion,  as  though  convulsed 
by  galvanic  influence.  If  we  then,  when  our  senses  are 
locked  up  and  we  are  unconscious  of  all  around,  are  thus 


WILL.  39 

forcibly  operated  upon  without  a  choice  or  a  self-created 
will  to  bring  about  these  results,  is  it  not  proof  positive 
that  we  are  governed  by  the  irresistible  laws  of  oar 
nature,  in  which  we  have  no  hand,  any  more  than  in  the 
creation  of  ourselves,  or  the  pulsations  of  our  heart?  The 
internal  workings  of  our  vital  functions,  of  which  we  are 
not  conscious,  are  truly  wonderful ;  and  here  lies  the 
secret  of  the  various  mystic  systems,  that  refers  all 
human  actions  not  jjroduced  by  external  agencies  through 
our  senses  to  an  internal  and  self-moving  power  of  the 
mind,  called  by  different  names,  as  inherent  or  intuitive 
conceptions,  sacred  monitors,  angel  whispers,  and  such 
like.  Digestion,  absorption,  circulation,  nutrition,  and 
assimilation,  with  all  the  sustaining  and  renewing  both 
of  our  mental  and  physical  energies,  is  carried  on  as  well 
when  asleep  as  when  awake,  and  the  conservative  vigi- 
lance of  these  vital  powers  is  the  marvelous  work  of 
Divine  Wisdom,  and  indicates  a  mind  of  body  as  well 
as  of  brain.  Yes ;  marvelous  it  is  indeed  that  we  may 
take  into  the  stomach  a  homogeneous  substance,  as  milk, 
which  is  itself  a  secretion,  and  it  will  soon  be  converted 
into  muscles,  bones,  cartilages,  tendons,  nerves,  and  many 
other  solids,  and  a  thousand  secretions ;  all  differing 
greatly,  both  in  their  visible  appearance  and  their  chem- 
ical properties.  The  wear  and  tear  of  mind  and  body  by 
day  is  restored  by  night;  and  the  insidious  and  stealthy 
encroachments  of  morbid  influences  arc  watched  at  every 
pore.  Organic  breaches  that  disturb  the  vital  functions, 
as  a  cog  out,  or  a  broken  wheel,  are  quickly  repaired ;  a 
wound  is  watched  and  healed,  and  a  bursting  blood  vessel 
or  a  broken  bone  is  soon  mended.  Prick  the  hand  or 
flesh  even  when  asleep,  and  there  is  an  instantaneous 
recoil ;  let  us  stumble  or  lose  our  balance,  and  quicker 
than  thonglit  does  this  law  of  nature  riglit  us  up.  In- 
deed, wo  have  no  time  to  think,  nor  has  this  exotic  will 


40  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

time  to  create  itself  and  come  to  our  aid.  A  thousand 
facts  of  equal  wonder  and  sure  design  are  seen  in  our 
physiological  researches  into  the  animal  economy,  too 
numerous  to  doubt  the  existence  of  an  all-wise  and  ever- 
present  Designer,  who  numbers  the  hairs  upon  our  head, 
and  suffers  not  a  sparrow  to  fall  to  the  ground  without 
his  notice.  If  these  mere  material  and  tangible  opera- 
tions of  body  are  carried  on  without  our  consciousness  or 
knowledge  of  their  modus  operandi,  and  without  a  self- 
created  will  that  creates  these  results,  how  is  it  to  be 
supposed  that  in  the  more  inscrutable  and  subtle  mind 
we  can  scan  those  ultimate  causes  that  belong  to  God 
alone?  To  cover  this  ignorance,  a  thingless  name  and 
powerless  phantom  has  been  got  up  in  the  dark  ages, 
called  will.  The  physician,  when  ignorant  of  those  occult 
workings  upon  his  patient,  and  pressed  hard  for  explana- 
tions, treats  the  case  with  deep  gravity  and  most  learned 
technicality;  such  as  morbid  irritation,  normal  and  ab- 
normal condition  of  system,  loss  of  sensorial  power, 
accumulated  excitability,  revulsion,  translation,  concat- 
enation, and,  above  all,  "ui's  medicatrix  natura"  is  dragged 
in  as  the  universal  panacea  of  medical  ignorance.  In 
like  manner  does  the  superficial  metaphysician,  when 
unable  to  go  back  through  the  labyrinth  and  lengthened 
series  of  causation  to  the  more  remote  and  true  causes  of 
human  action,  most  sacrilegiously  call  into  existence  a 
non-created  and  self-willed  being,  that  can  with  impu- 
nity violate  all  the  laws  of  G-od,  sever  the  connection  of 
cause  and  effect,  render  void  his  potent  and  harmoni- 
ous dependencies,  and — what  is  of  all  most  wonder- 
ful in  this  wonderful,  uncaused,  and  efficient  no-cause 
without  the  pale  of  God's  government — make  something 
out  of  nothing,  and  create  and  annihilate  itself  at 
pleasure  —  a  power  that  no  philosopher  or  divine  on 
earth  ever  supposed  God  himself  possessed  of.     Hence 


WILL.  41 

it  is  that  he  is  held  to  be  uncreated  and  from  all  eternity. 
This  paramount  god  of  all  gods — will — however,  is  said 
to  have  no  antecedent  or  cause  of  being ;  but  to  rise  spon- 
taneously from  nothing,  and  from  moment  to  moment 
through  our  existence  shape  with  exact  design — but 
without  a  designer  to  suit  the  million  of  emergencies — 
the  emotions,  thoughts,  and  actions  of  man  as  he  runs  the 
gauntlet  of  life,  and  is  assailed  by  warring  elements  on 
every  side.  The  God  of  the  universe  can  not  be  and  not 
be  at  the  same  time ;  nor  can  he  act  inconsistently  with 
himself,  and  yet  be  a  consistent  God.  But  this  god, 
will,  can  rise  from  nothing,  can  be  or  not  be,  as  it  may 
will,  without  a  parent  will ;  can  make  incompatibility 
compatible,  inconsistency  consistent;  can  move  by  con- 
trarieties; can  make  virtue  vice,  and  vice  versa;  can  act 
without  a  motive ;  prefer  without  a  preference,  and  choose 
without  a  choice.  These  things,  ludicrous  and  impossible 
as  they  may  appear  to  the  reader,  are  actually  the  legiti- 
mate results  of  the  doctrine  taught  by  the  free-willers. 

Dr.  Whitby,  the  great  Armenian  champion  of  free- 
will, seeing  that  desire  is  in  some  way  always  connected 
with  our  volitions,  is  recreant  and  traitorous  enough  to 
truth  and  sacred  reason  to  boldly  affirm  that  we  do  not 
choose  a  thing  because  we  desire  it,  but  desire  it  because 
we  have  chosen  it  without  a  desire — making  the  will 
thus  free  to  choose  without  a  choice  or  desire  so  to  do — 
the  exact  converse  of  our  mental  process  and  order  of 
exercise  in  willing;  for  this  would  be  to  will  contrary  to 
our  will,  or  choose  a  thing  contrary  to  our  choice,  or 
desire,  in  order  to  obtain  that  desire.  He  farther  speaks 
of  an  indifference  of  choice,  or  an  equipoise  condition  of 
mind,  leaving  it  free  to  act  without  a  choice;  which  is 
again  impossible  in  any  case:  for  in  such  case  there 
could  be  no  choice,  cliaiige,  or  act  of  mind — quietude  and 
action,  or  rest  ami   motion,  being  antagonal  and   incom- 


42  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

patible.  That  a  man  can  do  what  it  pleases  himHo  do,  I 
grant;  but  to  say  that  he  wills  to  do  what  does  not 
please  him  is  absurd.  We  might  wish  circumstances 
were  different,  could  the  will  so  make  it. 

The  only  obvious  and  satisfactory  way  of  meeting 
these  abstract  and  subtle  plausibilities  is  to  direct  the 
reader  to  the  exercises  of  his  own  mind,  and  ask  him, 
if  a  fine  orange  be  presented  and  he  accept,  whether  it 
was  not  the  orange  that  induced  him  to  accept  it ;  and 
his  answer,  if  honest,  will  decide  the  whole  controversy 
about  will ;  for  it  can  not  be  that  without  the  orange  such 
effects  would  ever  have  taken  place.  A  free-wilier  might 
answer,  as  Haven  and  Dr.  Whitby  would:  True;  but  it 
was  the  mind,  and  not  the  orange,  that  accepted  and 
acted  as  it  pleased  ;  and  who  could  wish  to  be  freer  than 
to  do  just  as  he  pleases.  This  every  body  knows ;  but 
ought  also  to  know  that  the  orange  caused  the  mind  to 
be  pleased,  and  made  it  do  just  as  it  pleased.  Apply  a 
red-hot  iron  to  your  surface,  and  the  mind  will  instan- 
taneously flinch ;  in  which  case  it  was  not  the  iron  that 
flinched,  but  the  mind;  which  did  just  as  it  pleased. 
And  now,  here,  as  in  the  case  of  the  orange,  and  all 
other  cases  of  will  and  action,  it  was  the  red-hot  iron 
that  made  the  mind  do  just  as  it  pleased.  Was  not  the 
mind,  however,  at  liberty  not  to  flinch.  No;  under  the 
motive  power,  pain,  it  was  not ;  and  if  it  had  been,  it 
would  not  have  done  as  it  pleased,  for  that  would  have 
been  to  be  pleased  with  pain,  instead  of  pleasure  —  a 
thing  impossible  in  the  nature  of  mind — and  by  which 
fact  you  now  see  the  whole  secret  of  will  and  action. 
From  the  nature  of  the  delicious  orange,  your  mind  was 
pleased  to  accept  it.  But  now,  hark  to  the  fatal  fact  of 
how  the  mind  changes  with  the  change  of  circumstances 
and  causal  power — of  objects  or  motives,  of  pleasure  and 
pain,  of  loss  and  gain.     Now,  if,  after   the  pleasure  of 


WILL.  43 

accepting  the  orange,  j'oii  saw  poison  in  it,  that  pleasure 
■would  instantly  change  to  pain,  and  the  mind  as  fatally 
certain  as  turns  the  needle  to  the  magnet,  would  turn 
from  the  orange  and  refuse  to  eat — still  doing  as  it 
pleases ;  or,  in  other  words,  just  as  prompting  motives, 
under  its  decreed  law  of  mentality,  cause  or  incline  it 
to  do ;  thus  showing  that  to  do  or  not  to  do  is  the  same ; 
and  in  reality  it  is  all  to  do,  and  to  do  just  as  the  unerring 
law  of  causality  makes  us  do.  Reflect  upon  this,  and  then 
notice  every  act  of  your  life,  and,  in  so  doing,  ask  your- 
self, TVhy  I  did  thus  and  so,  and  not  otherwise.  To  say 
that  the  mind,  and  not  the  motive,  is  the  proximate  cause 
of  all  muscular  acts,  is  obviously  true,  yet  positively  false 
when  applied  as  it  is  by  Haven  and  all  free-willers ;  for 
the  question  is  not  what  the  mind  does,  but  what  it  is 
that  makes  the  mind  do  what  it  does.  The  man  who 
shoots  another  might,  with  equal  philosophic  propriety, 
say:  I  did  not  kill  the  man,  nor  did  I  touch  him;  it  was 
the  lead,  or  a  ball,  that  killed  him.  And  this,  though 
certainly  true,  would  not  excuse  him,  nor  one  who  kills 
another  by  poison,  from  criminality  before  a  court  of 
justice.  The  ball,  like  the  poison,  was  the  proximate 
cause,  and  only  cause  seen,  of  death ;  but  if  we  will  trace 
back  upon  the  lengthened  chain  of  causality,  we  will  find 
the  barrel  which  conveyed  the  fatal  ball,  the  powder  that 
sent  it,  the  cap  which  exjDloded  the  powder,  the  cock  or 
hammer  which  struck  the  cap,  the  main-spring  that  forced 
the  cock,  the  trigger  that  set  the  main -spring  loose,  the 
finger  which  pulled  the  trigger,  and  so  on  to  the  remote 
and  true  cause  of  all  these  events.  Just  so  with  motive 
and  its  events — the  will  being  the  proximate  cause  of  all 
willing  acts;  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  ball,  we  sec 
nothing  and  are  conscious  of  nothing  but  the  will  or 
desire  to  act,  and  yet  it  is  just  as  certain,  as  in  the  a])ovo 
case,  that  there  is  an  antecedent  or  remote  caiisc  that  sent 


44  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP    MIND. 

or  excited  the  mind  (talce  notice)  and  induced  the  mind  to 
choose  and  act — there  being  no  effects  without  cause  in 
eitlier  case.  The  mind,  like  a  leaning  tree,  is  always  just 
as  nature  inclines  it  to  be ;  and  when  the  tree  falls,  it  will 
fall  just  as  it  is  inclined  or  made  to  fall — does  not  grow 
itself  or  fall  itself — the  laws  of  the  vegetable  kingdom 
forcing  it  up  as  we  see  it,  and  gravitation,  winds,  or 
other  causes  forcing  it  to  fall  just  as  it  seems  inclined  and 
does  fall ;  having  no  intrinsic  power  to  make  itself,  grow 
itself,  or  to  stand  or  fall  of  itself.  In  like  manner,  the 
mind  did  not  mal^e  itself,  nor  can  it  prolong  itself  beyond 
its  destined  end;  can  not  act  upon  itself,  create  ideas  and 
volitions  within  itself,  nor  even  renew  itself  when  ex- 
hausted ;  but  is  as  dependent  upon  its  decreed  laws  as 
are  all  other  things  under  God's  government.  And  now, 
as  the  mind  can  not  act  without  a  choice,  and  can  not 
choose  without  an  object  of  choice,  we  at  once  see  its 
dependence  upon  those  objects  which  it  did  not  create 
and  can  not  alter. 

In  every  act  of  life  we  instinctively  look  for  a  cause, 
and  it  is  in  every  body's  mouth,  Why  did  he  do  it?  What 
could  have  been  the  motive?  And,  to  answer  with  free- 
willers,  There  was  no  cause,  no  motive,  no  object  or  end 
in  view,  good  or  bad,  would  not  be  satisfactory. 

And  now,  the  whole  controversy  in  regard  to  the 
human  will  practically  resolves  itself  into  this  : — A  "man 
bad  by  nature  or  education,  or  both,  will  certainly  will 
and  act  badly,  in  accordance  with  his  nature  and  the 
circumstances  attending  it;  while  a  good  man,  in  like 
manner,  will  will  and  act  differently ;  for  the  same 
reason  that  a  Mahometan  will  act  like  a  Mahometan,  a 
Catholic  like  a  Catholic,  a  Protestant  like  a  Protestant ; 
and  that  a  Frenchman  will  speak  French,  and  an  En- 
glishman will  speak  English.  These  are  self-evident 
facts,  which  I  have  demonstrated  elsewhere,  and  I  will 
now  proceed. 


WILL.  45 

In  returning  again  to  our  analogies  and  illustrations,  it 
may  be  recollected  that  I  gave  the  will  the  place  of 
the  engine,  which,  in  reality,  is  a  nullity,  a  perfect 
nonentity  in  regard  to  an  intrinsic,  or  self-existent  power. 
Like  the  powder  that  would  remain  powerless  without  the 
spark  that  explodes  it,  the  engine  would  lie  for  ever  dead 
but  for  the  vitalizing  steam,  which  gives  it  its  executive 
office.  Explosion  is  a  new  creation,  and  is  neither  pow^der 
nor  the  spark,  but  a  i^owerful  and  efficient  effect  or 
offspring  of  both,  and  which  becomes  in  the  fated  chain 
itself  a  cause.  And  so  in  regard  to  steam,  it  is  a  new 
creation,  brought  into  existence  not  of  itself,  but  by 
water  and  fire.  Of  this  creative  power,  through  the 
influence  of  objective  and  subjective  unity,  so  little 
understood  or  applied  in  our  investigations  of  science, 
we  have  many  examples  in  chemistiy  ;  as  the  union  of 
an  acid  and  a  base,  forming  a  saline  substance  or 
agent,  new  and  efficient  in  all  its  appliances,  and  yet 
wholly  different  from  either  of  its  originals.  All  our 
thoughts,  ideas,  and  wills  are  in  like  manner  new  crea- 
tions, not  from  nothing  or  from  individual  influence, 
but  the  result  of  objective  action  upon  the  subjective, 
or,  in  other  words,  the  influence  of  the  external  world 
acting  upon  our  sensibilities,  or  the  soul  within,  through 
our  senses.  It  was  from  the  revivescent  and  plastic  hand 
of  nature,  in  the  death  and  reproduction  of  organic 
matter  in  its  various  forms,  and  of  the  new  and  strange 
productions  in  the  mineral  kingdom,  that  doubtless 
gave  to  Zoroastrethe  idea  of  the  trajismigration  of  souls — 
the  Pythagorean  doctrine  and  religion  of  Persia.  True, 
the  reader  may  say  ;  but  now  for  its  application  to  the 
subject  of  will,  to  whicli  I  answer  that  it  is  by  giving 
a  familiar  knowledge  of  the  result  of  those  occult  and 
wholly  inscrutable  laws  that  bring  into  existence  such  re- 
sults that  we  can  conceive  of  tlic  workings  of  appropriate 

5 


46  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

agencies  in  the  human  mind  in  the  production  of 
their  results,  and  it  will  be  found  that  there  are  more 
things  in  this  analogy  than  the  giving  of  a  religion  to 
millions  of  our  fellow-beings.  And  to  prevent  the 
barking  of  cur-critics,  who  may  strike  upon  a  false 
trail,  and  cry  materialism,  I  here  say,  that  though 
chemistry  and  machinery,  used  in  my  analogies,  are 
not  identical  with  mind  and  will,  such  analogous  prin- 
ciples are  common  to  all  things.  Were  I  to  say,  a 
good  man  and  a  good  dog,  it  would  not  necessarily  mean 
that  man  was  a  dog.  And  again,  were  I  to  say  man 
was  an  animal,  and  a  goose  was  an  animal,  it  would 
not  prove  man  to  be  a  goose,  and  yet  little  critics, 
fonder  of  controversy  than  of  truth  and  honesty,  might 
find  excuse  for  a  tirade  of  Puritanical  invectives  ujjon 
this  j)oint,  for  I  have  read  books  against  Locke's 
Metaphysics,  and  the  Rev.  William  Paley's  Moral  Philos- 
ophy, not  a  whit  better  founded,  which  only  proves 
the  fact  that  "  dogs  may  bark  at  dead  lions." 

But  to  return  from  illustrations  to  the  argument.  You 
say  that  you  can  do  as  you  please.  I  say  so  too.  You 
reply  :  this,  then,  is  surrendering  the  question.  Yet  not 
so,  for  it  incontestably  confirms  my  jDosition.  I  grant 
that  you  can  do  as  you  please,  but  I  afiirm  that  you 
can  not,  to  save  your  life,  avoid  doing  what  you  please, 
which  is  a  plain  proof  of  necessity — the  very  thing  I 
want.  You  may  be  determined  to  a  vicious  act,  but  turn 
it  to  a  virtuous  one,  or  alter  your  will  in  ten  thousand 
ways,  and  yet  every  act  must  be  in  obedience  to  the  mo- 
tivity  of  will.  You  may  determine  upon  an  intrigue  or 
fraud,  and  have  that  will  changed  by  fear,  either 
of  God  or  man,  in  each  of  which  cases  we  plainly  see  the 
motive.  You  will  to  raise  your  arm,  and  it  is  done.  I 
say  now,  put  it  down  ;  but  you  reply  triumphantly,  I  won't 
do  it,  and  so  hold  it  up  in  defiance  of  my  will,  but  in  full 


WILL.  47 

accordance  with  your  own  will,  which  will  and  act  was 
in  defiance  of  my  command — the  evident  motive  cause  of 
such  will  and  act.  A  link  of  connection  in  the  machinery 
of  man  may  be  severed,  as  in  palsy ;  a  screw  may  be 
loosed,  a  bone  broken  ;  and  in  that  case,  though  the  engine 
will  may  work  intensely,  the  legs  remain  still  and  the 
body  unmoved.  Just  so  it  is  with  the  vessel — the  wheels 
will  not  walk,  nor  the  body  of  the  boat  move,  if  the 
connection  between  the  wheels  and  engine  be  cut  off. 
This  fated  necessity  of  connection  as  of  cause  and  effect, 
or  will  and  action  being  established,  we  will  look  farther 
into  the  origin  of  will,  the  moving  engine  of  the  human 
system.  I  have  elsewhere  said  that  every  rational  being 
acted  with  a  view  to  some  end,  and  that  that  end  or 
object  to  be  obtained  was  the  motive  or  cause  of  will,  and 
that  this  exciting  object  of  will  bears  precisely  the  same 
necessary  relation  to  the  will  of  man  that  the  steam  does 
to  the  engine  or  will  of  the  boat.  The  steam,  though  a 
new  creation,  and  got  up  to  suit  the  occasion,  is  not  a  self- 
created  being,  but  is  a  separate  entity,  the  offspring  of 
water  and  heat.  The  generators  of  the  will  of  man  arc 
also  actual  objects,  and  work  just  as  simply  and  plainly 
to  be  seen  as  the  action  of  one  billiard  ball  upon  another 
in  the  production  of  motion.  For  example,  a  child  is 
hungry  and  sees  an  apple,  and  now  the  will  to  obtain 
that  desired  object  is  certainly  created  by  the  apple, 
and  the  efforts  that  follow  are  the  necessary  results 
of  the  newly  created  desire  or  will  to  fulfill  its  destined 
end.  The  apple  created  the  pleasure  and  caused  the 
child  to  do  as  it  pleased;  or  in  other  words,  it  cei'tainly 
led  the  mind  to  its  choice.  Now,  in  this  case  the  apple 
as  certainly  created  the  will  and  the  will  as  certainly 
stretched  out  the  arm,  as  that  any  one  thing  in  science  is 
the  cause  of  another.  It  must  farther  be  seen,  that  with- 
out this  apple  such  will  would  never  have  existed  ;  and 


48  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

again,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  steady,  or  living  and 
lasting  will  beyond  its  immediate  motive  or  causal  object. 
Ten  thousand  wills  are  created  daily,  and  as  quickly  do 
they  pass  off,  for  ever  succeeding  each  other  like  waves  of 
the  ocean.  The  movement  of  children  who  are  never 
still  will  show  the  nature  of  volition,  and  how  every  new 
object  or  turn  of  their  toys,  produce  motive,  will  and 
action.  Put  tobacco  in  a  child's  mouth,  and  its  effect, 
aside  from  sickness,  is  obnoxious,  while  sugar  has  a  very 
different  influence.  And  so  with  all  objects  that  assail  any 
one  of  our  five  senses,  aside  from  what  I  call  the  sixth,  or 
functional  sense,  as  hunger,  thirst,  dreams,  pains,  and 
sickness,  with  our  endless  neuralgic  sensations.  We 
need  not  study  artificial  text-books,  or  go  beyond  the 
nursery  to  learn  human  nature.  The  child  may  be  seen 
to  follow  the  sugar  bowl,  or  stick  of  candy,  as  certainly 
as  a  horse  will  follow  a  bundle  of  fodder,  or  an  ear 
of  corn.  Scatter  dimes  or  candy,  and  just  such  a 
scramble  will  ensue  as  we  daily  see  taking  place  in  the 
selfish  acts  of  the  trafficking  world  around  us,  that  only 
gains  more  cunning  and  fraud  by  age.  Will  is  not  an  en- 
tity, but  simply  a  conditional  or  correlative  term,  like 
hunger,  thirst,  love,  hatred,  and  other  sensations  that  con- 
stitute neither  matter  nor  spirit,  and  like  niotion,  that 
inheres  only  in  the  moving  object.  Music,  for  instance, 
has  no  real,  lasting,  or  separate  existence  apart  from 
the  instrument  that  produces  it.  It  is  a  mere  momentary 
sensation,  or  one  of  the  many  evanescent  modes  of  mind. 
Will,  like  effect,  has  no  separate  existence  from  its  cause. 
Every  word  we  speak,  step  we  take,  and  movement  of  the 
body  in  the  execution  of  our  hourly  vocations,  require  a 
new  will  generated  by  the  object  of  desire  to  do  what  we 
do.  I  am  cold,  and  approach  the  fire ;  here  the  fire 
creates  the  will  or  desire,  and  the  will  carries  the  body. 
The  mind  did  not  produce  the  fire  nor  the  will  to  go  ot 


WILL.  49 

it;  but  God  created  the  fire,  and  the  fire  created  the 
will  to  go  to  it,  and  ft-om  this  fatality  in  God's  own  hand 
there  is  no  escape.  But  could  we  not  as  easily  have  staid 
away  from  the  fire  ?  Yes,  indeed,  and  have  suffered  or 
frozen  to  death,  if  a  stronger  motive  had  caused  a 
counter-will,  but  no  such  motive  having  interfered  with 
the  bent  of  the  mind,  it  was  impossible  for  us,  under 
existing  circumstances,  to  do  otherwise  than  what  we  did. 
The  difficulty  in  understanding  this  subject  has  ever 
been,  that  we  feel  the  desire  or  will  to  act  and  see  the 
result,  but  never  look  back  of  the  will  to  see  how  it  is 
produced.  We  may  see  a  puppet  dancing,  and  except 
we  look  behind  the  curtain  to  see  the  hand  of  design  that 
holds  the  law  of  motion,  we  might  suppose  it  to  have 
vitality  and  intrinsic  power.  To  free  the  subject  as 
far  as  possible  from  vague  abstractions  and  bewildering 
technicalities,  I  have  striven  thus  to  illustrate,  by  familiar 
examples  of  every-day  life,  and  original,  but,  I  hope, 
acceptable  mode  of  instruction.  And  again  we  may 
exercise  our  thoughts  in  tracing  the  succession  of  events. 
We  see  a  man  dead  from  a  shot  and  accuse  the  will  ball 
(the  only  thing  seen,)  of  the  deed.  It  pleads  necessity, 
as  being  sent  by  a  power  called  explosion  ;  the  explo- 
sion accuses  the  powder ;  the  powder  being  innocent 
in  itself,  refers  to  the  spark  or  cap  that  ignited  it ;  the 
cap  to  the  cock  or  hammer  that  struck  it,  and  the  hammer 
to  the  main-spring  ;  that  to  the  trigger  ;  the  trigger  to  the 
finger;  the  finger  to  the  tendon ;  the  tendon  to  the  muscle ; 
the  muscle  to  the  nerve,  and  the  nerve  to  the  will,  which 
will  is  gone  forever;  but  could  it  be  called  up,  it  would 
refer  you  to  some  powerful  impulse,  passion,  or  emotion, 
that  begot  the  will.  Sucli  will  might  refer  you  to  the 
(nind,  the  mind  which  did  not  create  itself  could  refer  you 
back  to  \ifi  nature,  or  birth,  its  education,  and  the  circum- 
stances that  excited  it  at  the  moments  of  its  willing.     But 


50  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP    MIND. 

could  not  a  counteracting  or  paramount  will  have  pre- 
vented that  fatal  will,  is  the  natural  question  of  every 
man  ;  which  question  brings  the  subject  in  all  its  force, 
fully  and  fairly,  right  up  before  us.  I  answer  promptly  to 
this  question,  that  a  stronger  will  would  as  certainly  have 
counteracted  this  fatal  will,  as  that  the  whole  is  greater 
than  a  part ;  but  it  is  equally  certain  that  as  the  prompt- 
ing passions  and  emotions  of  soul,  or  in  other  words, 
as  the  motives  then  before  the  mind  did  not  excite  such 
will,  it  was  impossible  under  existing  circumstances  for 
him  to  have  such  a  will,  which  surely  left  him  as  free 
to  follow  the  stronger  will  as  a  feather  is  to  float  with  the 
currents  of  the  prevailing  winds.  It  would  have  been 
just  as  easy  for  water  to  run  upwards,  sparks  to  descend, 
and  rocks  to  float,  instead  of  being  ruled  by  the  fatal  law 
of  gravitation,  as  they  now  are,  if  God  had  so  willed 
it ;  but  as  God,  in  his  plans  of  creation,  from  the  motives 
then  before  him,  had  no  such  counter  will,  he  ordered 
things  as  they  now  are,  which  renders  it  imj)ossible  for 
them  to  be  otherwise  than  as  they  now  are.  Again,  if 
God  had  willed  us  to  live  for  ever,  we  could  not  die  ;  but 
ah  !  how,  in  the  absence  of  that  easy  will,  do  we  feel 
the  powerful  influence  of  our  fated  death  ?  It  would 
be  just  as  easy  for  to-morrow  to  be  clear  as  to  be  cloudy  ; 
but  if  cloudy,  it  will  not  be  without  a  necessary  and 
sufiicient  cause  in  the  unseen  and  unending  series  of 
ever-moving  events.  If  those  who  have  gone  to  the 
stake  had  had  a  mind  they  could  have  thought  otherwise 
than  they  did,  and  thus  have  saved  their  lives ;  but 
without  being  able  to  change  the  circumstances  that  fixed 
upon  them  the  death-deserving  opinion ;  it  was  impossi- 
ble for  them  to  have  such  a  mind.  I  think,  however, 
aside  from  these  examples,  that  the  reader  must  see  from 
the  very  nature  and  fixed  relation  of  things  themselves, 
that  no  change  of  will  can  occur  without  a  change  in  the 


WILL.  51 

principle,  or  laws  that  govern  will.  The  will  is  so  univer- 
sally governed  by  the  nature,  or  property  of  objects,  that 
every  body's  will  is  to  prefer  a  pound  of  gold  to  a  pound 
of  iron  ;  yes,  and  diamonds  to  dirt,  the  mind  neither  being 
able  to  create  nor  alter  the  nature  of  things.  It  ever 
has  been  and  ever  will  be  impelled  to  act  in  accordance 
with  the  nature  of  the  motive  objects.  And  again,  we 
are  known  to  will  and  act  in  accordance  with  our  own 
nature.  For  instance,  if  a  man  of  quick  temper  has  his 
face  spit  in,  he  will  be  prompted  to  strike,  before  he  has 
time  to  think,  while  another,  cowardly,  or  of  blunt  feeling 
and  slow  temper,  having  time  to  weigh  the  consequences, 
may  withhold  the  blow;  but  in  each  case  the  parties  were 
governed  by  the  necessity  of  their  nature.  And  again, 
suppose  a  man  starts  to  attend  a  card  party,  or  a  drink- 
ing club,  but  while  on  the  way  a  thought  of  evil 
consequences  comes  over  his  mind,  and  he  turns  back, 
was  he  not  in  each  case  governed  by  a  sufficient  motive  to 
move  him  ?  so  that  a  first  will  being  counteracted  by  a 
second  will  is  no  proof  of  a  self-created  or  non-caused 
will.  A  virtuous  Avill,  then,  that  counteracts  a  vicious 
will  is  no  less  a  motive,  or  caused  will ;  and  as  whatever 
is  moved  is  moved  by  something,  and  whatever  is  caused 
is  caused  by  something,  the  wull  must  have  a  motive  for 
action,  and  be  that  motive  good  or  bad,  real  or  imaginary, 
(for  ghosts  move  the  mind  with  great  power,)  it  does  not 
leave  the  will  free  to  act  without  a  motive. 

It  is  granted  by  all  sound  minds  in  science  that  the 
same  causes  will  always  produce  the  same  effects  under 
the  same  circumstajices,  Avhich  renders  it  impossible  that 
any  man  could  have  done  otherwise  than  he  did,  iiiilii- 
enced  by  circumstances  as  he  then  was.  It  is  a  common, 
but  thoughtless  and  false  remark  in  the  mouth  of 
every  one  :  well,  I  am  sorry  I  did  so,  for  I  might  have 
done  otherwise.     One  moment's  thoua:ht  will  convince  us 


52  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

of  this  most  palpable  and  unhappy  of  all  errors :  as  the 
pursuit  of  every  man  throughout  life,  from  his  cradle 
to  his  grave,  is  that  of  happiness,  and  this  arises  from  the 
first  law  of  our  constitution  which  God  has  implanted 
in  us  for  self-preservation.  He  has  given  us  acute  sensi- 
bilities of  pleasure  and  of  pain,  which  gives  us  a  desire 
or  will  to  escape  from  the  one  and  seek  the  other,  and 
simple  and  comprehensible  as  it  may  be,  constitutes  the 
main-spring  to  human  action,  and  is  the  key  to  the 
phenominal  series  of  life.  How,  then,  under  this  granted 
and  governing  law,  can  any  rational  being  voluntarily 
seek  pain  in  preference  to  pleasure,  and,  if  not  so,  he 
certainly  acts  at  the  time  he  acts  with  the  best  light  that 
he  at  the  time  had,  and  were  it  possible  for  him  to  go 
back  with  identically  the  same  impressions  or  opinions, 
it  most  assuredly  must  appear  that  the  same  results 
would  occur.  From  the  same  principles  of  our  nature  it 
is  evident  that  we  should  not  suffer  under  bitter  and  deep 
self-reproach  and  anguish  for  past  acts,  if  the  light  now 
shining  in  ujDon  our  souls  had  co-exieted  with  those 
regretted  acts. 

Why,  then,  so  foolishly  say  we  could  have  done 
otherwise  than  we  did,  or  that  the  will  has  power  to 
act  contrary  to  the  convictions  of  the  soul.  And  now  the 
result  of  the  examples  beautifully  illustrate  the  utilitarian 
principles  upon  which  this  essay  is  founded ;  to  wit,  that, 
by  enlightening  the  human  family  and  giving  them  a 
clear  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  God  or  nature,  and  our 
own  constitutions,  and  how  these  laws  or  elements  operate 
upon  our  sentient  and  percipient  being,  that  we  are  to 
obtain  that  quiet  satisfaction  and  happiness  of  mind,  for 
which  the  world  incessantly  strives.  Having  in  other 
parts  of  this  essay  fully  pointed  out  to  man  his  only 
hopes  for  happiness,  it  will  not  be  necessary  here  to  dwell 
upon  this  point.     It  may  be  said,  why  educate,  instruct. 


WILL.  53 

or  admonish,  if  all  is  fate  and  fixed  by  laws  that  can  not 
be  altered  at  will.  But  I  answer  that  these  very  laws  of 
fatality  are  what  makes  us  free  to  escape  destruction  or 
less  consequences  as  the  case  may  be ;  and  farther,  these 
laws  being  fatal  (certain)  afford  the  only  rational  plea  for 
instruction.  For  instance,  being  instructed  that  water 
will  drown,  and  fire  burn,  we  keejD  out  of  them,  and 
thereby  avoid  the  consequences;  the  friendly  law  of 
fatality  making  us  free  to  escape  the  moi'e  fatal  law  of 
destruction.  If,  on  the  contrary,  God  had  left  things  to 
chance  or  contingency,  instruction  and  knowledge  would 
all  be  in  vain.  Founded  upon  these  shifting  sands,  bread 
that  nourishes  us  one  day  might  prove  a  deadly  poison 
the  next;  and  a  deed  of  virtue  one  houi*,  a  vicious  one 
the  following;  so  that  it  will  be  seen  in  a  single  sentence 
that  the  doctrine  of  free-will  and  casualisra  would  destroy 
all  knowledge,  and  leave  us  a  physical  and  moral  wreck. 

If  a  man  be  viciously  taught,  his  passions  and  wills  will 
be  fatally  vicious;  and  if  raised  ignorantly,  the  poor  fel- 
low will  be  fatall}^  ignorant.  If  Eve  had  believed  in  the 
doctrine  of  fatality  (certainty)  she  would  not,  when  told 
what  would  be  her  fate,  have  committed  the  acts  she  did. 
But  being  persuaded  by  the  free-will,  Devil,  that  there  was 
a  casualty  in  the  command  that  left  room  for  escape,  she, 
in  consequence,  hazarded  the  happiness  of  all  mankind. 

The  physical  universe  depends  wholly  upon  fatality  for 
its  glorious  harmonj^  and  eternal  preservation,  and  but  for 
the  reliable  constitution  of  man  in  his  susceptibility  of 
pleasure  and  pain,  and  his  steady  relation  to  his  Creator, 
good  and  evil  would  be  neutralized  and  lost  in  the  de- 
structive vortex,  casualism.  Grant  the  existence  of  a  God, 
and  his  steady  rule  and  government  over  all  things,  then, 
indeed,  will  instruction  in  liis  laws,  for  which  he  has  given 
us  full  capacity,  prove  valuable  to  ourselves  and  acceptable 
\f>  In  III. 


54  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

Fatality  instructs  us  tliat  wo  have  no  will  to  s^^cak  an 
unknown  language,  yet  this  very  fatality  gives  us  the  will 
to  learn  it;  and  though  we  have  no  will  to  cure  the  fever, 
a  knowledge  of  the  fact  gives  us  a  will  to  avoid  the  ma- 
larious region  that  would  cause  the  fever. 

Fatality  farther  instructs  us  in  morals,  that  we  have  no 
will  to  save  ourselves  from  condemnation  for  sin ;  but  a 
knowledge  of  this  fact  gives  us  a  will  to  avoid  sin :  know- 
ing that  no  will  we  can  create  of  our  own  can  save  us 
from  the  gallows,  gives  us  a  will  to  abstain  from  crime; 
and  thus  it  must  appear  to  the  most  common  reader,  that 
the  doctrine  of  fatality  is  the  only  immutable  basis  upon 
which  to  found  a  rational  education ;  and  farther,  if  events 
could  be  brought  about  without  a  fixed  and  known  law  of 
God  by  the  self-created  will  of  man,  all  knowledge  of  the 
future,  both  by  God  and  man,  would  be  destroyed.  Arro- 
gant and  impious  then  must  be  the  man  who  aims  by  a 
self-created  power  to  resist  the  laws  of  his  own  constitution, 
and  subvert  the  mandates  of  Heaven,  The  jDrescience  or 
foreknowledge  of  God  would  be  impossible,  if  there  were 
other  gods  or  men  who  could  by  their  own  wills  change 
the  result  or  destiny  of  things.  The  future  with  God  is 
the  same  as  the  past  with  men,  and  as  what  is  past  is 
certain  and  unalterable,  that  which  is  to  come  is  just  as 
certain  and  unalterable  with  God.  Now,  it  will  be  easily 
seen,  that  had  God  left  it  to  the  whims  of  men's  wills  to 
do  or  not  do,  independent  of  fixed  and  fatal  laws  of  his 
own,  by  which  he  can  judge  that  his  future  knowledge 
must  be  uncertain,  for  how  could  he  be  certain  of  an 
event  that  is  uncertain,  or  to  know  a  thing  to  be  that  may 
or  may  not  be. 

Observing,  then,  as  we  must,  that  God's  perfect  fore- 
knowledge of  events  and  free-wills,  whims,  or  accidents 
are  incompatible,  and  that  the  doctrine  of  necessity  is 
thereb}'  established,  some  have  denied  to  God  liis  power 


WILL.  -  55 

of  prescience.  This  power,  however,  can  not  thus  be  got 
rid  of,  particularly  by  Christians,  for  it  is  recorded  in  his 
book  of  revelation  that  he  did  predict  the  action  of  men, 
and  thej'  came  to  pass  to  the  letter.  In  short,  all  the 
prophecies  were  founded  upon  Grod's  foreknowledge,  from 
which  it  must  ajipear  obvious  to  every  man,  that,  if  the 
events  and  persons  spoken  of,  had  had  a  will  of  their  own, 
independent  of  God's  will,  or  known  knowledge,  and 
could  act  from  moment  to  moment  even  against  all  tempta- 
tions, causes,  or  motives,  God  could  not,  by  any  possibility, 
have  known  their  deeds,  where  they  might  have  seen 
proper  to  act  differentl}".  Stand  here  for  a  time  unsan- 
daled,  for  you  are  upon  holy  ground,  and  think  seriously 
of  what  3'ou  read.  We  can,  with  our  limited  knowledge, 
anticipate  the  conduct  of  men,  and  did  we  know  them 
perfectly,  we  could  present  a  motive  or  lay  a  bait  for 
every  act  of  life.  For  instance,  we  know  that  a  miser 
will  prefer  two  dollars  to  one,  and  that  a  man  who  has  a 
strong  propensity  for  drink  will  take  it  when  the  tempta- 
tion is  set  before  him,  j^rovided  there  be  no  intervening 
temptations  to  draw  his  mind  in  a  different  direction.  All 
other  events  of  life  are  equally  certain,  when  understood, 
and  why,  then,  say  that  we  are  not  actuated  by  motives 
and  by  laws,  just  as  obvious  and  sure,  as  the  material 
bodies.  I  will  farther  show  that  will  is  an  effect,  as  has 
been  often  asserted,  and  how  it  is  created  or  produced. 
One  man  calls  another  a  liar,  it  creates  a  will  to  strike, 
but  a  fear  of  consequences  or  a  regard  for  moral  duty 
may  be  the  stronger  motive,  and  create  a  will  not  to 
strike.  A  large  sum  of  money,  without  fear  of  detection, 
may  create  a  will  to  steal,  but  if  a  high  sense  of  honor 
or  moral  tcr])iliide,  from  an  early  and  well  grounded 
instruction  in  religion,  crimes  in  ;ih  his  sironger  niolivc, 
tiie  theft  will  not  be  committed,  i^iquor  creates  a  will  in 
a  savage  to  fighl,  and  a  kind  Avord  and  eertain  beiielil  to 


56  THE    TRUE    THILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

that  savage  gets  up  a  counter  will.  The  inhalation  of  the 
exhilarating  gas  may  engender  various  wills,  and  reveal 
to  view  the  peculiar  idiosyncrasy  of  the  individual :  one 
will  dance,  and  another  dash  at  the  audience  for  a  fight,  a 
third  will  debate  most  furiously,  while  a  fourth  will  sit 
silently  and  weep :  showing  beautifully  and  clearly  that 
will  or  desire  is  nothing  more  than  an  impression  made 
upon  our  sensitive  being.  This  subject  is  to  me  so  simple 
and  so  clear,  that  additional  illustrations  seem  really  to  be 
a  loss  of  time. 

This  doctrine  of  necessity  must  show  to  every  reader 
the  necessity  of  an  early  and  dee^ily  grounded  instruction 
in  religious  and  moral  principles,  it  being  as  fatally  cei'tain 
that  a  man  of  early  vicious  habits  and  strong  passions 
will  yield  to  temptations,  as  one  whose  passions  have 
been  early  subdued,  and  mind  elevated  to  more  noble 
aspirations,  will  have  a  strong  enough  will  to  resist  them. 
Some  authors,  seeing  the  power  of  motives  over  the  will, 
have  granted  that  the  strongest  motive  or  temptation 
offered  to  the  mind  will  move  it,  as  certainly  as  that  the 
strongest  body  in  motion  will  overcome  the  weaker,  or 
that  the  whole  is  greater  than  a  part.  This  every  honest 
man  of  clear  mind,  like  Hamilton,  is  forced  to  allow ;  but 
some,  like  Sir  William,  fearing  that  bugbear  cry  of  fatal- 
ism and  infidelity,  shift  off  under  the  cover  of  conscience — ■ 
a  lying  witness.  Fashions  in  education  are  like  fashions 
in  dress,  as  well  as  in  all  other  things.  A  new  cut  may 
at  first  be  uncomely,  and  even  forbidding  and  ridiculous ; 
but  soon,  from  its  association  with  greatness  and  refine- 
ment, becomes  beautiful  and  irresistible  over  the  will,  and 
the  reader  who  can  not  see  from  this  single  example  the 
sovereign  power  of  circumstances  over  the  production  of 
thought  and  action  in  the  human  family,  must  be  blind, 
indeed,  to  the  influences  of  his  own  mind. 

Conscience  or  opinion  (which  in  realitj^  are  the  same 


WILL.  .  57 

thing)  are  like  will — not  an  original  faculty  or  power,  as  is 
falsely  taught  in  all  the  books  on  these  subjects ;  but  they 
are  effects  or  results,  and  formed  and  changed  about  by 
the  circumstances  that  create  them.  For  instance,  how 
are  the  consciences  of  judges  and  juries  formed  in  giving 
their  decision  in  cases  involving  life,  liberty,  and  joroperty  ? 
They  have  no  legal  or  just  opinion,  and  consequently  no 
will  to  act  till  the  case  is  heard.  If  the  testimony  be 
plain  and  positive,  the  conscience  is  clear,  and  the  will 
quick  and  strong  in  its  decision.  Here  is  a  simple  case 
that  will  apply  to  every  opinion  and  act  of  human  life, 
and  shows,  beyond  contradiction,  that  we  are  governed  by 
opinion,  and  that  that  opinion — the  father  of  the  will  to 
act — is  itself  dependent  upon  circumstances ;  and  farther- 
more,  that  those  circumstances  are  themselves  dependent 
upon  their  antecedents  or  appropriate  causes,  and  so  on 
ad  infinitum;  and  hence,  as  Hamilton  says,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  find  a  beginning — one  event  succeeding  another, 
and  the  causes  of  will  being  as  interminable  as  the  sweep 
of  time  itself.  It  is  remarkable  that  Hamilton  and  other 
intellectual  writers,  men  of  great  minds  in  little  things, 
should  not  know  that  the  beginning  is  in  God,  whose 
creative  wisdom  has  called  all  things  into  existence,  and 
who  gave  life,  laws,  and  motion  to  the  aggregated  uni- 
verse, and  that  all  was  constituted  to  act  in  harmony  and 
with  undeviating  fate. 

In  speaking  of  the  causes  of  volition.  Dr.  Edwards 
says :  "  If  the  mind  causes  its  own  volitions,  it  can  only 
do  it  by  a  causal  act,  and  that  causative  act  is  itself 
a  volition,  and  requires  another  causative  act  to  pro- 
duce it,  and  so  on  ad  infi.nitnm,  thus  involving  us  in  the 
infinite  series."  Hamilton  recognizes  this  as  a  legitimate 
argument,  and  hence,  he  affirms,  that,  as  we  can  see 
no  beginning  of  self-caused  or  free  volitions,  they  are 
inconceivable — yes,  impossible.     But  aside  from  all  great 


58  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF   MIND. 

* 

names,  with  their  abstract  and  equivocal  doctrines,  I 
here  give  my  own  views  as  plain  and  undeniable  facts : 
First,  that  all  events  and  all  productions  are  alternately 
cause  and  effect — as  the  reproduction  of  man  from  Adam 
down,  nothing  standing  as  an  independent  and  universal 
cause,  save  God  alone ;  secondly,  that  every  effect  must 
have  its  cause ;  thii'dly,  that  every  cause  must  act  to  pro- 
duce its  effect ;  fourthly,  that  there  is  nothing  self-created 
or  self-made,  but  everything  is  moved  by  other  forces, 
otherwise  we  could  have  the  perpetual  motion,  by  a  self- 
moving  power,  a  thing  I  have  elsewhere  demonstrated  to 
be  impossible,  the  fatal  and  inflexible  law  of  dualism 
foi-bidding  it. 

And  now,  from  these  great  and  universal  principles, 
decreed  by  the  Maker  of  all  things,  we  must  infer  that 
the  mind  can  not  create  itself,  or  act  upon  itself  to  create 
ideas  and  volitions  within  itself,  but  is  dependent  upon 
other  objects  that  operate  upon  it — the  causal  j)ower  of 
dualism,.  Haven  calls  the  doctrine  of  Edwards  and  Ham- 
ilton the  dictum  necessitatis,  which  subjects  the  mind  to 
the  causal  law  of  all  other  things,  and  tauntingly  says, 
"  The  mind  thinks,  and  has  it  to  think  before  it  thinks  any 
more  than  to  have  a  motive  to  act  before  it  acts?"  Now, 
this,  though  plausible  in  words,  is  obviously  false  in 
principle  and  in  the  nature  of  things ;  for,  though  the 
mind  does  not  have  to  think  before  it  can  think,  it  can 
not  think  without  having  an  object  of  thought,  any  more 
than  it  can  choose  without  an  object  of  choice,  or  will 
without  a  motive  to  will.  As  I  constantly  repeat,  the 
great  error  of  this  author,  like  all  free-will  writers,  is  in 
dividing  the  mind,  an  indivisible  thing,  into  many  parts, 
powers  and  faculties,  and  making  them  so  independent 
that  Dr.  Alexander  says,  in  his  book  on  Moral  Science, 
that  the  soul  is  not  responsible  for  the  acts  of  the  will, 
nor  can  vicious  qualities  of  the  soul  vitiate  its  essence;  as 


WILL.  59 

though  the  soul  was  not  like  everything  else — made  what 
it  is  by  its  parts  and  properties.  This  constantly  deceives 
and  misleads  the  reader,  and  indeed,  both  writers  and 
teachers  of  metaphysics ;  so  much  so  that  Haven  saj^s 
the  mind,  by  aid  of  its  faculty,  will,  can  create  its  own 
wills,  motives,  thoughts,  and  acts,  as  though  the  Aviil  was 
not  the  mind  and  the  mind  the  will,  which  is  the  same  as 
to  say,  that  the  will  can  create  its  will,  or  the  mind  can 
create  its  mind.  Will,  like  faculty,  is  a  word  of  false 
sound;  for  What  is  it,  I  ask  again  and  again,  but  the 
simple  bent  or  inclination  of  the  mind  itself,  and  what  is 
the  bent  or  inclination  of  the  mind  itself  but  the  turning 
of  the  mind  itself  to  the  objects  of  its  desire  or  aversion? 
The  mind  that  laughs  one  minute  and  crys  the  next  is 
identically  the  same  mind,  governed,  not  by  extra  wills 
and  faculties,  but  simply  by  the  objects  presented  to  the 
mind,  over  which  none  of  these  creative  wills  or  faculties 
have  any  control.  The  needle  turns  to  the  magnet,  its 
causative  object,  just  as  the  mind  turns  to  its  creative  or 
causative  objects,  and  one  has  just  as  many  faculties  and 
wills  as  the  other.  There  is  nothing  in  the  whole  science 
of  the  mind  but  sensations  of  pleasure  and  pain,  and 
consequently,  desire  or  aversion  to  do  or  not  do,  just  as 
such  pleasures  and  pains  may  incline  this  feeling  thing 
we  call  mind.  If  Buttering  pain  from  thirst  and  we  see  a 
cooling  spring,  the  mind,  without  the  aid  of  faculties,  at 
once  carries  the  body  to  it.  Charming  music,  through 
tlic  ear,  leads  us  to  enjoy  it,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  if 
we  see  or  hear  something  frightful  and  dangerous,  we  at 
once,  without  the  advice  of  faculties,  escape  it.  Thus  is 
solved  the  mighty  enigma  of  mind  and  the  great  science 
of  psycholog3^  I  have  no  objection  to  the  mighty  array  of 
liK-nltics,  wills,  volitions,  ami  powers  necessary  for  mailing 
n|)  l»ig  and  mystic  books,  and  livings  for  thousands  oi" 
teachers;  if  such  book-makers  and   teachers  should    Idl 


60  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

the  student  they  are  mere  high  sounding  nothings 
introduced  to  fill  up  and  give  the  appearance  of  much 
learning.  And  now,  I  ask  the  reader  to  see  Haven,  the 
great  text-book  maker,  where,  under  the  head  of  a  con- 
trary choice,  he  creates  a  faculty,  sticks  it  into  the  mind, 
and  makes  it  so  paramount  to  the  mind  with  all  the  other 
faculties,  as  to  choose,  will,  and  act,  contrary  to  the 
choice,  desire,  and  determination  of  the  mind  itself.  I 
say,  see  Haven,  and  read  and  think  for  yourself.  He 
repeatedly  says,  We  can  voluntarily  do  what  we  do  not 
want  to  do,  and  moreover,  that  we  can  feel  differently 
from  what  we  do  feel,  as  well  as  think  and  believe 
differently  from  what  we  are  inclined  to  do.  Such  a 
faculty  I  should  like  very  much  to  have,  as  it  could  make 
pleasure  oiit  of  pain,  mitigate  all  sorrows  and  afflictions, 
and  feel  that  we  are  rich  when  we  are  poor.  Yes,  I  now 
ask  such  writers  whether  this  thing  they  call  will,  has 
any  actual  existence  separate  and  apart  from  the  causal 
object,  and  if  so,  when  and  how  did  it  come  into  existence? 
The  idea  of  its  designing  itself  and  bringing  itself  into 
existence  before  it  had  an  existence,  is  too  absurd  and 
impossible  to  entertain,  so  that  it  must  have  a  cause  aside 
from  itself,  which  I  hold  to  be  the  causal  object  such  will 
desires  to  obtain.  Should  the  alternative  be  assumed,  that 
the  will  is  no  separate  or  independent  thing,  but  is  in  reality 
nothing  but  the  mind  itself,  which  creates  its  own  wills,  we 
are  thrown  right  back  into  the  absurdity  we  aim  to  escape, 
of  self-creation,  as  it  would  be  just  as  easy  for  the  will  to 
create  itself  and  its  objects  of  will,  as  for  the  mind  to  create 
itself  and  its  objects  of  choice.  The  mind,  with  all  the  fac- 
ulties and  powers  we  falsely  give  it,  can  of  itself  create  noth- 
ing, any  more  than  the  mother  alone  can  create  her  offsjjring 
or  product.  I  say,  and  say  again,  will  is  an  effect,  a  product 
of  the  subject  mind  and  the  motive  object,  neither  alone 
being  able  to  create  themselves,  but  are  results,  the  pro- 


WILL.  61 

duct  of  God's  decreed  law  of  dualism.  But  to  be  done 
with  this  view  of  the  subject,  (foi'  I  am  weary  with  prov- 
ing a  self-evident  proposition,)  I  will  once  more  ask  the 
reader,  if  invited  to  a  party  which  he  attended,  whether 
the  will  created  the  party,  or  the  party  and  his  invitation 
to  it  created  the  will  which  took  him  to  the  party?  But 
now  vary  the  question,  as  free-willers  would  do,  and  affirm, 
you  did  as  you  pleased?  1  again  ask,  was  it  not  the  party 
that  gave  you  the  pleasure  to  do  as  you  pleased?  so,  vary 
the  question  as  you  may,  it  terminates  in  the  self-evident 
fact,  that  motives  are  inevitably  and  invariably  the  cause 
of  will. 

My  natural  turn  of  mind  led  me,  in  early  life,  to  moral- 
ize upon  all  events,  and  caused  a  pleasure  (no  self-creation, 
take  notice)  in  me  to  do  just  as  I  pleased,  which  was  to 
read  everything  I  could  find  ui^on  the  subject  of  the  mind. 
AYith  this  foundation  I  commenced  my  practical  study  of 
mind,  and  having  for  more  than  fifty  years  mixed  with  all 
nations  and  languages  of  the  human  family,  from  the 
native  Indian  up,  or  rather,  down,  to  the  snobs,  parvenus, 
and  paragons — the  fashionable  folly  of  our  race — have 
sought  to  find  where  happiness  dwells. 

Whether  Diogenes,  Alexander,  Cicsar,  or  Napoleon 
lived  and  died  the  rational  and  happy  life,  is  a  question  of 
doubt. 

It  is  at  once  seen  that  the  will  or  conviction  of  mind  to 
decide  any  case  is  not  a  self-created,  fortuitous,  or  contin- 
gent nature,  but  is  dependent  upon  the  testifying  facts 
that  make  the  case  what  it  is,  or  upon  impulses  arising 
from  love  or  hatred  to  jjcrsons  or  objects,  which  loves  or 
hatreds  also  had  their  foundation  in  the  nature  of  things. 
It  appears  to  me  to  require  but  little  expansion  of  mind 
to  see  this  relation  of  causal  dependencies,  or  (lu!  inimii- 
table  and  indissoluble  connection  of  cause  and  ellect,  and 
that  the  investigation  of  wiiidi    must  as  necessarily  lead 


62  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

US  iii^wards  and  onwards  to  the  First  G-reat  Cause,  as  the 
rounds  of  a  hidder  lead  us  upwards,  or  the  tracing  back 
the  causality  of  man  from  son  to  father  will,  through  the 
series  of  generations,  lead  us  back  to  Adam,  the  first  man, 
from  the  hand  of  God  himself.  Nothing  stands  alone,  or 
has  a  self  and  independent  existence,  but  all  things  bear 
a  kindred  and  causal  relation,  in  time,  space,  and  nature, 
and  is  doomed  to  incessant  and  eternal  succession.  There 
is  no  first  beginning,  no  last  end,  but  in  God. 

The  mirror  has  no  power  to  create  pictures,  but  can 
reflect  the  impression  made  upon  it,  nor  has  the  daguerre- 
otype-plate power  to  alter  or  obliterate,  except  by  time,  as 
the  fading  of  memory  from  the  tablets  of  the  mind.  The 
wax,  in  like  manner,  is  suscejJtible  often  thousand  stamps 
or  impressions,  but  has  no  will  to  resist  or  change  them. 
And  so  it  is,  likewise,  with  a  blank  paper,  like  the  child's 
mind  at  birth — without  a  scratch  or  character  of  any  kind 
wpon  it — but  languages  and  whole  books  of  science  may 
by-and-by  be  written  upon  it;  nor  has  it  any  more  power 
than  the  mirror  to  speak  a  language  that  has  not  been 
taught  it,  or  change  the  nature  of  things  that  are  im- 
pressed upon  it.  The  materials  in  the  mind  received 
through  our  senses  may,  like  the  materials  in  the  kalei- 
doscope, be  turned  about,  exhibiting  endless  forms — as 
in  case  of  imagination,  and  dreams  by  internal  and 
functional  excitations  or  emotions,  and  we  may  even 
become  furious  madmen  by  disease ;  but  in  all  these 
cases  the  will  can  do  no  more  than  the  mirror.  The 
will,  I  have  said,  is  nothing  more  than  the  result  —  the 
reflection  of  our  sensations  and  thoughts — and  the  mad- 
man's will  is  just  as  much  the  result  of  his  unavoidable 
feelings  and  thoughts  as  the  man  better  balanced.  And, 
if  there  be  an  unerring  conscience  and  will  independent 
of  circumstances,  why  ever  act  amiss,  as  we  often  do, 
gi-eatly  to  our  own  disadvantage  —  as  in  our  contracts 


WILL.  63 

and  other  acts  of  life.  As  before  stated,  if  cold,  we 
approach  a  fire,  because  the  sensation  in  this  case  is 
pleasurable  ;  but  if  it  burns  us,  we  have  an  instantaneous 
and  strong  will  to  withdraw  from  it,  because  the  sensa- 
tion is  painful.  These  are  plain  and  simple  facts,  and 
apply  to  every  act  of  life.  If  we  could  perform  an  act 
without  a  motive  or  cause,  then  we  should  have  events 
or  effects  without  causes ;  and  if  this  be  so,  which  is 
impossible,  then  man  can  not  be  free.  Every  act  of  life 
proceeds  from  desire,  and  desire  indicates  an  object 
desired;  which  object  the  will  did  not  create,  and  conse- 
quently is  not  free. 

We  hunger,  and  desire  food;  thirst,  and  desire  water; 
are  in  love,  and  desire  the  object;  hate,  and  avoid  the 
object;  and  just  so  it  is  with  every  other  act  of  life, 
called  free-willing.  The  mind,  as  previously  stated,  is 
a  unit,  simply  with  the  sensation  of  pleasure  or  pain,  as 
external  agencies  may  impress  it,  so  that  all  resolves 
itself  into  desires  and  gi-atifications.  God  himself  is 
under  the  necessity  of  acting  according  to  the  nature  of 
things,  as  acknowledged  by  Clark,  Chalmers,  Dewey, 
Scott,  Dick,  Butler,  and  other  able  divines.  For  instance, 
God's  will  is  not  self-created,  nor  inconsistent  w'ith  the 
nature  of  things  eternal,  but  is  the  result  of  immutable 
wisdom  and  infinite  goodness,  and  comprehension  of 
what  is  right  and  best;  and  truth,  honor,  and  justice 
being  uncreated,  underived,  immutable,  and  eternal,  God 
can  not  act  contrary  to  the  nature  of  these  indcipend- 
ent  entities  and  paramount  motives;  for  that  would  be 
acting  ignorantly,  untruthfully,  dishonorably,  and  unjust- 
ly, which  would  make  him  neutralize  his  own  attributes 
and  sink  beneath  the  dignity  and  honor  of  a  God.  So 
tliut  in  accordance  will)  his  own  nature  and  Uu-  laws  he 
has  stamped  u])on  all  things,  he  is  under  the  moral  neces- 
sity of  acting  with  an   undeviating  rectitude  *^1'  pur])080. 


64  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OF    MIND. 

These  are  august  realities  and  sacred  principles,  grounded 
in  the  constitution  and  nature  of  things,  that  can  not  be 
denied  by  Christian  nor  by  Deist.  Haven  says  upon  this 
subject,  in  treating  of  taste:  "The  beautiful,  the  true, 
the  good  exist  as  simple,  absolute,  eternal  principles. 
They  are  in  the  Divine  mind;  they  are  in  his  works. 
In  a  sense,  they  are  independent  of  Deity.  He  does 
not  create  them.  He  can  not  reverse  them,  or  change 
their  nature.  He  works  according  to  them.  They  are 
not  created  by,  but  only  manifested  in  what  God  does." 

Grod's  laws,  then,  are  not  right  simply  because  of  his 
authority,  or  his  having  willed  them,  for  he  willed  them 
not  from  any  arbitrary  feeling,  but  because  they  were  in 
themselves  independently  and  eternally  right.  We  do 
not,  then,  derive  morality  from  the  mere  dictates  or 
commands  of  the  law ;  but  from  a  higher  and  anterior 
source,  from  which  all  law,  if  just,  both  human  and 
divine,  must  be  derived. 

After  having  shown,  then,  that  God  himself  had  a 
foundation  and  reason  for  all  he  did,  shall  we  assign  to 
man  a  power  to  originate  things  from  nothing,  and  to 
possess  a  will  that  is  governed  by  no  law  or  rule  of 
action?  —  a  broken  link  in  the  great  chain  of  causality, 
and  without  the  pale  of  God's  government;  a  thingless 
thing,  and  an  efficient  nothing  and  effectual  no-cause, 
that  can  act  without  a  motive,  choose  without  a  choice, 
and  decide  without  a  difference ;  and,  above  all,  that  can 
create  and  annihilate  itself  at  pleasure.  If  will  be  the 
result  of  our  judgment,  it  is  not  free ;  and  if  determined 
by  reason,  or  the  dictates  of  conscience,  it  is  equally  a 
result,  and  not  an  efficient  and  independent  entity.  We 
have  farther  seen,  as  in  the  decision  of  judges,  juries,  and 
in  all  other  cases,  that  our  reasonings,  judgments,  and 
convictions  of  right  and  wrong  are  dependent  ujion  the 
facts  of  the  case,  or  in  the  nature  of  things,  so  that  it 


WILL.  65 

must  be  seen  that  neither  the  will  nor  the  foundations 
of  will  are  free — all  dependent  upon  antecedent  circum- 
stances, and  consequently  under  the  laws  of  causality,  or, 
in  other  words,  necessity.  Even  after  all  the  testimony 
has  been  heard  and  a  judgment  formed,  a  speech  will 
change  that  judgment,  and,  consequently,  the  conscien- 
tious decision  of  a  jury.  Where,  then,  is  this  innate 
and  immutable,  immaculate  and  divine  conscience  thus 
warped  and  driven  before  the  breath  of  eloquence  as  a 
feather  before  the  storm  ?  In  short,  if  we  had  that  infal- 
lible monitor,  maintained  by  model  copyists,  we  could  as 
well  decide  without  law  and  testimony  as  with  them.  I 
at  this  moment  think  of  a  case  which  of  itself  is  sufficient 
to  decide  the  question  whether  we  have  a  will  that  can, 
under  any  circumstances,  come  to  our  aid,  or  decide 
anything  without  the  causes  or  objects  that  create  that 
will.  Sujjpose,  for  instance,  we  come  to  the  forks  of  a 
road  of  equal  size  (as  I  have  often  done),  and  no  finger- 
board to  decide  or  beget  this  wonderful  will,  so  independ- 
ent of  all  causes.  We  have  no  will  with  us,  nor  can  we 
summon  it  to  our  aid,  but  let  a  man  come  along  and  say 
this  is  the  right  road,  and  then  does  this  paradcful  and 
no-caused  will  rise  up  and  claim  the  honors  of  an  infal- 
lible guide. 

If  w'e  will  disregard  the  abstract  and  inexplicable 
rcfinings  to  be  found  in  the  innumerable  and  perplexing 
books  upon  metaphysics,  and  apply  the  mind  itself  to 
the  practical  purposes  of  life,  we  shall  find  no  difficulty 
in  iinderstanding  all  the  laws  of  mentality;  which  arc 
so  few  and  simple  that  a  child,  as  before  said,  may  master 
them  in  a  short  time,  and  that,  too,  by  the  most  pleasing 
exercise  of  its  own  mind.  But  the  schools  now  destroy 
the  mind  hy  stuj)ifying  it  willi  mcmoi'izing  abstract  and 
technical  nonsensu,  instead  oC  ciihirging,  elevating,  and 
enlightening  i(   by  familial'  conversations  and  lectures  on 


GO  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

science,  and  upon  those  laws  of  our  nature  by  which  we 
are  to  be  made  healthful,  prosperous,  and  happy.  Our 
youths  are  not  now  taught  to  get  rid  of  local,  petty, 
and  personal  prejudices,  and  to  believe  in  one  God,  one 
church,  and  one  brotherhood ;  but  are  early  stultified 
and  blinded  to  truth  and  justice  by  idolatrous  isms, 
schisms,  and  dogmatisms,  that  sear  the  heart  and  vitiate 
the  soul,  thus  engendering  fiendish  and  implacable  par- 
ties, who  in  religion  drag  each  other  to  the  stake,  and, 
in  violation  of  the  laws  of  both  Clod  and  man,  assume 
the  authority  of  God's  partial  favoritism  and  aj:) proba- 
tion, get  uj)  bloody  wars,  and  subvert  governments,  thus 
making  man  the  greatest  enemy  of  man. 

But  to  return  from  those  reflections  upon  the  results 
of  education  to  the  argument.  It  is  admitted  by  many 
free-will  writers,  that  where  the  mind  is  under  a  prepon- 
derating influence,  that  it  has  no  power  itself  to  change 
itself  and  make  a  choice  contrary  to  its  own  choice — 
which  in  reality  is  as  impossible  as  to  be  and  not  to  be 
at  the  same  time:  but,  say  those  authors,  throwing  off 
part  of  their  absurdities,  there  are  conditions  of  mind, 
as  in  a  state  of  perfect  equilibrium,  where  things  are 
equal,  and  there  is  no  choice,  then  can  this  will  come 
forward  and  make  a  choice.  In  j^roof  of  this,  they  oifer 
a  case  that  has  figured  through  their  numerous  and 
bewildering  volumes  for  centuries  past.  It  is  simply 
the  old  stone  balancing  the  grain,  and  they  have  not 
yet  seen  how  to  do  without  it.  This  celebrated  and  most 
notorious  case  is  the  offering  of  the  choice  of  two  guineas 
to  a  beggar  or  miser,  wherein  it  is  contended  there  can 
be  no  difference  in  the  thing  chosen  to  create  a  choice. 
Now,  the  choice  being  made,  as  they  think,  without  a 
difference,  they  thus  exultingly  affirm  it  to  have  been 
done  without  a  motive  or  preference  in  the  thing  itself: 
therefore,  the  will  is  free  to  act  or  choose  without  a  choice 


■WILL.  67 

or  distinction  in  the  thing  chosen  ;  which  is  an  absurd 
mistake,  for  it  must  be  seen  by  the  most  common  reader 
that  indifference  and  .choice  are  wholly  incompatible; 
and,  moreover,  that  the  question,  when  properly  under- 
stood, and  as  acted  upon  is  simply  this :  a  guinea  or  no 
guinea?  for  the  beggar  or  miser  sees  at  once  that,  if  he 
makes  no  choice,  he  gets  no  guinea,  and  as  there  is  no  dif- 
ference, it  makes  no  difference  which.  This  case,  well 
known  to  every  man  who  has  studied  psychology,  actu- 
ally proves  the  reverse  of  what  it  is  intended  to  do, 
to-wit — that  will  acts  upon  the  motive  for  action,  or,  in 
other  words,  according  to  the  motivity  of  things,  and  the 
immutable  laws  inherent  therein.  This  proposition  of 
a  balanced  or  equipoised  will  of  the  two  equal  guineas 
reminds  me  of  the  Greek's  jack  that  starved  to  death 
between  two  hay-stacks,  because  his  mind  was  thus 
equal  and  he  could  go  to  neither.  Such  propositions 
have  a  seeming  something  in  them  that  might  perplex 
the  pupil  or  common  reader;  but  it  is  like  the  question, 
whether,  if  one  stove  saves  half  the  fuel,  two,  hj  the 
rule  of  three,  may  not  save  all?  These  are  abstruse 
and  ingenious  subtilities,  it  is  true,  but  profitable  only 
to  mechanical  teachers,  and  stupid  book-makers.  Bring 
such  mj'stic  and  misguided  teachers  to  the  light  of  nature, 
and  they  are  as  blind  and  dumb  as  owls  and  bats.  I  have 
seen  unthinking  persons  perplexed  to  account  for  what 
becomes  of  all  the  old  moons  when  the  new  ones  appear; 
a  problem  of  equal  weight  with  the  guinea  question,  and 
many  others  that  support  the  schools,  and  make  big 
books  so  vague,  tangled,  and  mystic  as  to  be  as  inde- 
terminable as  the  tenets  of  witchcraft  itself^ — but  a  sliort 
time  since  so  gravely  and  grievously  mainliiiiMMl  li\  l;i\v. 
It  is  !i  very  coiiinion  rcinarlc  by  IVi-e-wilkM'H :  Well,  J 
would  not  suffer  such  and  such  thoughts  to  come  into  my 
mind.    I    would    ciisl    llirni    ofl';   wIm  ii    as   casiU-  wmild    if 


68  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

bo  for  the  leopard  to  change  his  spots  as  wo  to  cast  off 
our  nature  and  its  thoughts.  Why  not  cast  off  all 
disease  and  mental  affliction,  and  these  wandering 
thoughts  that  keep  us  tossing  all  night  upon  our  sleep- 
less beds  ?  Say  to  the  mother :  cast  off  all  affection 
and  distress  for  your  dying  babe,  and  she  will  say  in  her 
heart,  you  are  an  unfeeling  fool ;  and  so  may  we  say 
to  all  supei"ficial  thinkers,  and  false  teachers,  who  are 
wholly  ignorant  of  nature  and  of  their  own  constitutions. 
I  do  sincerely  pity  the  youths  of  our  country  who  have 
to  undergo  the  drudging  and  dwarfing  influences  of 
our  present  schools.  It  is  memory,  memory  of  arbitrary 
nothings,  till  the  mind  is  actually  incapacitated  for 
those  enlarged  and  ennobling  thoughts  of  God  and  of 
his  mighty  works,  which  alone  can  make  us  wise  and 
good.  If  we  had  schools  freed  from  the  galling  yoke 
of  the  dark  ages,  and  teachers  that  would  lead  their 
pupils  out  into  the  groves,  and  before  the  unfolded 
book  of  nature,  their  bodies  would  be  strengthened,  and 
their  minds  stored  with  wisdom  from  the  God  of  reason. 
If  the  books  studied  in  the  schools  be  worth  anything, 
they  are  founded  upon  nature  and  the  eternal  fitness 
of  things,  and  as  the  mind,  which  we  carry  with  us  by 
day  and  by  night,  is  the  substratum  of  all  knowledge, 
why  not  apply  it  to  nature  itself,  and  instead  of  a  coj^y  of 
ten  thousand  copies  that  may  have  been  corrupted  by 
ignorance  or  design.  To  show  the  natural  propensity 
of  the  mind  for  new  and  novel  things,  I  make  the  follow- 
ing quotation  : 

"  In  the  pleased  infant  see  its  power  spread, 
When  first  the  coral  fills  his  little  hand  ; 
Throned  in  his  mother's  lap,  it  dries  each  tear, 
As  her  sweet  legend  falls  upon  his  ear  ; 
Next  it  assails  liini  in  his  top's  strange  hum, 
Breathes  in  his  whistle,  echoes  in  his  drum; 
Each  gilded  toy  that  doting  love  hcstows. 
He  longs  to  break,  and  every  spring  expose." 


WILL.  G9 

Lead  the  little  child  out  into  the  flowery  meadows  and 
along  the  purling  streams,  and  his  desire  for  nature  will 
induce  him  to  throw  aside  his  artificial  toys,  and  oh  ! 
Avith  what  delight  will  he  paddle  in  the  water,  and  play 
with  the  pebbles.  As  the  larks  skim  the  air  before 
him,  and  light  with  their  soft,  shrill  notes  upon  the 
tops  of  the  waving  weeds,  he  with  extended  arms  strug- 
gles after  them,  and  by  his  joy-lit  countenance  and 
ecstatic  manner,  speaks  in  the  language  of  nature  :  "  Oh  ! 
see,  see !"  Soon  a  child  becomes  an  ardent  florist, 
and  while  yet  young,  might  become  scientific  without 
ever  looking  into  a  book,  and  without  the  aid  of  the 
degrading  lash  and  stupefying  drudgery  of  our  common- 
place and  routine  schools.  A  lisping  child  may  be  led 
onwards  and  uj^wards  in  the  laws  of  its  Creator  with 
as  much  delight  as  it  is  known  to  take  in  exciting  narra- 
tives, ghost  stories,  and  things  new  to  the  mind.  And 
should  it  be,  that  by  casting  off  the  stale  and  mechanical 
details  of  dead  languages  and  other  dwarfing  studies, 
we  too  early  learn  all  that  is  to  be  learned  in  this  world, 
(as  such  teachers  say),  we  can  direct  the  mind  of  the 
pupil  from  the  dazzling  streams  and  verdant  fields  of  earth 
to  the  gorgeous  and  glorious  universe  Avhere  clustering 
worlds  in  heavenly  harmony  roll  their  bidden  and  eternal 
rounds.  Here  may  science  exhaust  her  every  rule,  and 
imagination  roam  in  these  untrodden  fields  of  endless 
space  and  ceaseless  time.  But  I  wouhl  say  to  these 
nut-shell  teachers,  who  grovelingly,  yet  gravely,  maintain 
that  the  human  cranium,  contracted  as  it  is,  may,  by 
the  innumerable  a])artments  and  departments  they  have 
so  liberally  assigned  to  it,  have  ample  room  for  all  the 
arbitrary  and  unmeaning  trash  they  have  doggedly 
•  li-illed  and  crammed  into  the  brain,  and  yet  have  room 
for  everything  that  is  to  be  learned  in  this  world.  That 
this  assertion  will  sttmd  as  a  glaring  and  grievous  eri-or, 

7 


70  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND, 

till  we  shall  have  learned  the  laws  of  life  and  enough 
of  our  own  constitutions  to  rid  them  of  all  disease  and 
bodily  afflictions,  and  leave  old  age  as  the  only  outlet  of 
life,  and  till  the  statesman  and  divine  shall  have  learned 
enough  of  their  own  minds  to  live  at  peace  with  them- 
selves, and  to  unite  the  human  family  in  one  harmonious 
brotherhood,  that  wars  may  cease  and  murders  and 
misdemeanors  be  unknown. 

To  relieve  the  reader's  mind  from  a  constant  stress 
upon  abstract  thoughts,  I  will  as  briefly  as  possible 
contrast  the  book  of  nature  with  the  petty  driveling 
staid  and  stale  arts  of  man,  found  in  the  j)aper  books  of 
our  drudging  schools. 

Thus  the  reader  will  have  seen  what  he  has  yet  to 
learn,  and  that  we  are  at  this  moment  living  in  gross 
ignorance  of  the  wonders  of  the  world  and  of  the 
unnumbered  and  undiscovered  elements  and  laws  around 
us,  equal  to  astronomy,  railroads,  and  telegraphs,  which 
has  taken  us  thousands  of  years  to  discover.  And  why 
is  this  so,  other  than  that  our  lives  are  taken  up  with 
languages,  logic,  rhetoric,  and  other  such  pedantic 
trifles  that  have  never  discovered  or  invented  anything, 
not  even  a  plow  or  a  harrow,  and  in  the  nature  of  things, 
never  can.  Think,  I  beg  you,  why  it  is  that  men  living 
two  thousand  years  ago  were  more  original,  profound 
and  eloquent  in  thought  than  any  of  the  present  age  ? 
the  answer  to  which  is  that  their  thoughts  through  life 
were  devoted  to  the  laws  of  science  and  the  voice  of 
nature.  No  orator  has  ever  equaled  Demosthenes. 
Euclid,  who  lived  near  three  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
still  stands-  far  ahead  of  all  the  mathematicians  who  have 
ever  lived,  ^sop,  though  a  slave,  has  never  been 
equaled.  Socrates,  Plato  and  Aristotle  are  still  the 
masters  of  philosophy,  while  Homer  is  justly  adored  as 
the  divine  father  of  poetry ;  and  though  Milton  has 
gained  an  immortality  in  his   "  War  of  God  with  Satan  " 


WILL.  71 

by  stealing  from  Homer's  "  War  of  the  Gods,"  he  is  but 
a  feeble  imitator.     Shakespeare,  the  only  modern  child  of 
nature,  and  the  glory  of  England,  is  entitled  to  a  rank 
with  the   sages   of    antiquity.     Those    truly   great   men 
retreated  from  the  j)etty  scenes  of  society  and  sought 
wisdom  in  caverns,  forests,  and  in  the  sacred  fanes  of 
natui-e  ;    and  I  must  say  that  my  thoughts  have  been 
greatly  more  enlai'ged  and  elevated  amidst  the  voiceless 
wilds  and  slumbex-ous  solitudes  of  gray  old  forests,  than  in 
the  busy  marts   of  men  ;  and  who   is   it,  when  standing 
as  I  have  done,  upon  the  watch-towers  of  creation,  and 
viewing  the  ramparts  of  eternal  ages  just  as  they  were 
reared  by  the  hand  of  Almighty  Power,  will  not  have 
sublime  ideas  and  solemn  thoughts  ?     Here,  and  not  in 
the  man-made  church,  w^ill  you  meditate  with  awe  and 
admiration,  and  feel  that  you  are  in  the  presence  of  the 
great  Jehovah  himself     Amidst  old  decay  and  ruin  wide 
you  see  marine  organic  beings  sleeping  in  their  rocky 
tombs  of  unknown  ages,  yet  tell  you  of  a  former  and 
ruined  world,  which  leads  you  back  through  the  dark 
and  lengthened  vista  of  time  into  past  eternity !     But 
we  must  cut  short  these  thoughts,  solemn  and  sublime 
thoughts,  created  by  the  objects  of  nature,  and  return 
to  the  argument,  my  only  object  being  to  contrast  the 
study  of  nature  and  the  works  of  God  with  the  puerile 
Avorks   and   machinations   of   little   man    and    their  dis- 
gusting   vanity.     And    now,    though    this    might    seem 
to  the  reader  to  be  a  digression,  I  could  use  no  argument 
to  more  fully  convince  him  of  the  power  of  circumstances 
over  the  mind,  and  to  show  how  the  mind,  as  I  have  been 
throughout  striving  to  do,  may  be  stultified  and  degraded 
by  petty  and  puerile  studies,  or  ennobled,- expanded  and 
elevated  by  the  meditation   of   nature — God's  own    im- 
mutable and  eternal  laws  of  science. 

The  illustrated  book  of  nature  speaking  in    the   un- 


72  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

mistakable  lang;iage  of  God,  is  ever  open  before  us,  and 
the  interminable  chain  that  binds  the  physical,  intellec- 
tual and  moral  world  is  to  be  examined,  link  by  link, 
while  but  few  rounds  of  the  ladder  of  truth  that  reaches 
from  earth  to  heaven   have  as  yet  been  ascended.     The 
whole  phenomena  of  nature  are  presented  to  our  view 
and  her  classification  is  simple,  her  nomenclature  perfect. 
As  the  light  of  heaven  is  adapted  with  kindness  to  every 
eye,  so  is  the  language  of  nature  to  every  tongue  and 
capacity  on  earth.     The  outer  eye  requires  no  arbitrary 
learning,  nor  does  the  inner  eye  of  the  mind ;  it  is  but  to 
open  either  and  see  for  ourselves.     The  great  enigma  of 
the  universe  is  yet  to  be  solved,  and  we  have,  if  untram- 
melled, the  capacity  ample  for  the  task.     From  the  grand 
and  colossal  exhibitions  of  nature,  we   infer  boundless 
power  and  infinite  wisdom,  and  from  the  exquisite  de- 
signs  and   adaptation   of   means    to    ends,   we    infer    a 
Designer.     Through  immensity,  we  launch  into  eternity, 
and  in  endless  variety  we  find  an  eternal  unity.     Trans- 
cendent beauty,  order  and  harmony  fill  all  the  depart- 
ments of  God's  vast  domains,  while  vitality  and  thrift 
8j)ring   from   every   pore   of   nature.      Search   from   old 
ocean's  oozy  bed  to  the  concave  heavens  that  span  the 
whirling  globe,  and  from  the  hidden  caverns  of  earth  to 
the  star-lit  skies,  and  all  is  filled  with  life  and  activity. 
The  glowing  heavens  are  replete  with  light,  and  the  laws 
that  rule  the  celestial   orbs,  while  the  waters   beneath, 
team  with  organic  being.     Plenitude  and  power  are  seen 
everywhere,  and  the  unmistaken  presence  of  the  great 
Jehovah  is  made  manifest  to  the  most  common  observer. 
God's  own  hand-writing  is  seen  upon  the  face  of  nature, 
leaving   no  room  for  subtle  follies  or  verbal  quibblings. 
No  Mc,  hcec,  hoes,  or  further  struggle  between  the  rule  of 
truth   and   the   errors   of   education.       Those   glittering- 
diadems  that  stud  the  mighty  dome  of  heaven,  and  the 


WILL.  73 

green  earth,  with  its  rolling  rivers,  its  waving  forests  and 
blooming  lawns,  are  all  sweet  expositors  of  their  Maker's 
greatness  and  goodness.  "The  heavens  declare  the  glory 
of  God,  and  the  firmament  showeth  forth  his  handiwork ; 
day  unto  day  nttereth  speech,  and  night  unto  night 
showeth  knowledge."  The  heart  is  no  longer  chilled  by 
the  stern  and  wi-inkled  brow  of  the  technical  pedagogue, 
but  bounds  Avith  exulting  rapture,  while  the  emancipated 
soul  bathing  in  the  pure  and  sparkling  fountains  of  nature, 
rises  with  renewed  strength,  like  the  noble  eagle  from  his 
dirty  cage,  and  soars  high  in  heaven's  unfathomable  blue. 
'No  odious  selfishness  or  fraudulent  creeds  can  be  found  in 
God's  natural  revelation.  Xo  theological  chimeras  or 
sordid  mummeries  of  a  knavish  priesthood  are  there  to 
be  found.  No  confused  relations  of  vague  and  compli- 
cated abstractions,  conventionalities  or  factitious  entities, 
no  cheerless  mystery  or  desponding  gloom,  but  all  is  held 
out  in  bold  and  bright  relief  to  the  glowing  light  of  day. 
There  are 

" tongues  ill  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 

Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  everytliing." 

I  have  thus  briefly  striven  to  show  the  reader  what  we 
have  yet  to  learn,  and  to  restore  the  book  of  nature  to  the 
church  of  God,  which  book,  in  the  dark  ages,  being  pro- 
nounced hetei'odox  with  the  artistic  canons  of  theological 
philosophy,  was  thrown  out,  and  an  absurd  and  suicidal 
system  of  mystic  philosophy  ordained  in  its  place.  Of  all 
the  delusions  this  was  the  most  unfoi-tunate.  It  dethroned 
God,  degraded  the  human  mind,  and  dishonored  religion, 
and  after  the  vast  expenditure  of  mind  and  money,  during 
a  lapse  of  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight  years,  the 
religious  world  is  left  in  doubt  and  distraction. 

There  are  but  few  who  can  account  for  their  own 
actions;  yet  strange,  yes,  truly  strange,  that  any  man 
of  sound    mind,  seeing  that  his  own  actions  are  always 


74  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

directed  to  some  end,  should  not  know  that  that  end  was 
tlie  cause  of  such  action  instead  of  refei'ring  it  to  casual- 
ties that  have  neither  motives  nor  ends  for  action.     The 
whole   deception  of  this  long  j)erplexed  question  is  in 
feeling  the  undeniable  fact  that  we  do  as  we  are  inclined, 
desire,  or  please,  but  search  no  farther  to  see  why  we  do 
as  we  desire  or  please,  or  what  it  is  that  begets  that  desire. 
As  we  desire  to  exist  and  feel  that  we  do  exist,  were  it  not 
from  palpable  contradictions  we  should  certainly  imagine 
that   our  desire  begot  our  existence,  simjjly  because  we 
desire  to  exist  and  do  exist,  just  as  we  desire  to  act  and  do 
act.     It  is  this  delusive  feeling  that  begot  and  sustained 
the  doctrine  of  witchcraft,  and  the  power  of  spells.     Desir- 
ing an  event  and  finding  it  follow,  will  naturally  beget 
a  belief  that  the  desire  was  the  cause  of  such  event.     The 
daughter  of  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  as  recorded  in 
history,  wished  that  the  arm  of   a  certain  young   lady 
might  be  shriveled,  and  that  her  tongue  might  be  palsied, 
and  such  coming  true,  she  confessed  before  the  court,  and 
had  her  own  tongue  bored,  the  least  punishment  then 
inflicted  for  witchcraft.     Hundreds  have  confessed  their 
guilt    before    the    courts   of   England   and   sutfered   the 
dreadful  ordeals  of  fire  and  water,  showing  how  necessary 
it  is  to  guard  against  our  false  and  imaginative  feelings. 
Amongst  the  last   pi'ominent   cases   brought   before   the 
Court  of  England  was  one  of  a  poor  old  woman,  who  was 
formally  arraigned  before  Lord  Mansfield,  and  though  the 
facts  were  plainly  proven  by  the  most  respectable  wit- 
nesses, that  she  had  been  seen  riding  through  the  air  ujjon 
a  broomstick,  he  humanely  let  her  off,  by  granting  that 
the  respectability  of  the  witnesses  proved  the  fact  beyond 
contradiction,  yet  that  there  was  no  law  to  prevent  any 
one  who  might  see  proper,  to  ride  through  the  air  upon  a 
broomstick.     This  case  may  be  found  among  many  others 


WILL.  75 

of  similar  character,  amongst  the  records  of  the  courts  of 
Great  Britain. 

Martin  Luther,  though  a  man  of  strong  mind,  was  so 
ruled  by  superstition  as  to  say  to  the  churches,  I  would 
have  no  compassion  upon  these  witches,  but  would  burn 
them  all ;  and  history  tells  us  that  thousands  were  annu- 
ally burned  throughout  Europe  for  witchci-aft. 

As  I  again  and  again  rej)eat  it,  motive  begets  will,  and 
will  begets  action,  and  this,  in  reality,  simple  and  short 
as  it  is,  is  the  sum  total  of  a  question,  upon  which  thou- 
sands'^of  books  have  been  written.  The  reader  must  here 
take  a  particular  notice  of  these  connections,  and  by 
practicing  his  own  mind,  will  discover  the  fact  that  such 
is  the  established  relation  between  desire  and  deed,  or  will 
and  action,  that  the  moment  we  desire  to  act,  the  nerve  of 
connection  with  the  part  conveys  the  power  to  the  muscle. 
If  a  sensitive  and  high-toned  man  be  called  a  liar  and  a 
coward,  the  will  to  strike  is  at  once  excited,  the  spark  is 
put  to  the  powder,  and  as  quick  as  a  flash  it  passes  from 
the  pan  to  the  rifle  barrel  to  send  the  ball ;  does  the  nerv- 
ous fluid  fly  from  the  brain  to  .the  arm?  "We  will  or  desire 
to  walk,  and  the  legs  are  put  in  motion,  one  moving  alter- 
nately before  the  other — the  mind  now  commands  the  legs 
to  stop,  and  more  certainly  than  a  master  commands  a 
servant,  do  they  obey  and  stop. 

To  witness  with  what  marvelous  fikill  the  great  De- 
signer has  established  will  and  action,  exercise  your  mind 
upon  the  various  muscles  of  your  body.  Will  to  flex  or 
extend  any  one  finger  fixed  upon,  and  it  is  instantly  done, 
showing  incontestably  a  mental  control  over  our  locomo- 
tive and  procuratory  muscles.  God,  however,  has  wisely 
severed  the  action  of  the  heart,  and  all  our  vital  organs 
from  any  tamperings  of  the  will,  and  endowed  them  with 
separate  and  more  inherent  energies.  Here  is  actually  a 
universe  of  dynamic  and  normal   forces,  with  vitalizing 


76  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OP   MIND. 

and  renewing  powei's  of  which  wo  iire  wholly  uncon- 
scious, and  through  whose  dominions  our  intellectual  and 
telegraphic  messengers  pass  ft-om  our  censorhim  communi, 
or  head  office,  to  their  destined  points  of  execution  with- 
out interruption.  From  this  short  excursion  after  collat- 
eral and  amusing  facts,  we  will  return  to  the  argument. 
We  have  seen  that  motives  have  a  full  control  over  our 
desires  or  will,  and  that  will  has  a  like  control  over  our 
voluntary  or  motive  muscles,  and  analytically  or  synthet- 
ically, there  is  nothing  more  to  be  found  in  this  mighty 
question  about  the  nature  of  volition.  Let  us  try  the 
power  of  motives  a  little  farther,  and  test  whether  our 
assertions  be  connect.  Suppose  yourself  sitting  in  a  house, 
and  it  takes  fire,  and  the  flames  envelope  you,  would  it 
not  prove  an  amj^le  motive  or  a  sufficient  power  to  put 
your  legs  in  motion  to  escape.  I  hardly  think  you  will 
deny  it,  and  if  not,  the  question  is  at  an  end.  You  may 
answer,  yes,  it  certainly  was  a  sufficient  cause,  but  I  was 
at  liberty  to  stay  and  perish  in  the  flames,  for  many  a 
martyr  has  gone  to  the  stake  voluntarily  and  been  burnt. 
True,  but  these  are  cases  full  in  hand  to  prove  the  power 
of  motive  and  the  doctrine  of  necessity.  You  could  have 
been  consumed,  had  you  seen  proper,  but  it  is  certain  you 
did  not  see  proper,  and  now  we  turn  the  key  that  shows 
the  mighty  secret.  It  is,  why  did  you  not  stay  and  be 
consumed?  and  as  an  honest  man  you  answer,  because 
there  was  no  motive  to  do  so.  No  motive — true — true — 
yes,  true  as  that  there  is  a  God  in  heaven,  and  that  he 
has  established  his  laws,  mentally  and  physically,  upon 
fixed  and  immutable  principles,  that  cannot  be  subverted 
by  casualties  or  the  whims  of  man.  It  was  as  impossible 
for  you  to  stay  without  a  motive,  as  to  fly  without  wings, 
the  stronger  motive  as  certainly  controlling  your  will,  as 
the  heavier  body  will  turn  the  scale.  The  weight  in  your 
case  was  in  the  scale  of  self-preservation,  and  it  turned 


WILL.  77 

you  out  of  the  house  and  saved  your  life.  But  you  say, 
many  a  martyr  lias  gone  voluntarily  to  the  stake  to  be 
burned,  which  is  true,  and  many  a  man  has  walked  volun- 
tarily to  the  gallows  to  be  hanged,  not  that  he  preferred 
death  to  life,  but  there  being  no  escaj)e,  the  stronger  mo- 
tive, to  die  like  a  hero  rather  than  be  dragged  up  and 
hung  like  a  dog,  prevailed.  The  man  who  goes  to  the 
stake  might  escape,  but  he  goes  there  selfishly,  and  under 
the  same  motive  that  induces  a  miser  to  exchange  one 
dollar  for  two.  The  martyr  simply  exchanges  temjioral 
torment  for  eternal  hajDpiness,  and  instead  of  getting  two 
for  one,  as  in  the  case  of  the  miser,  he  expects  a  hun- 
dred-fold. Perjury  to  a  false  faith  might  release  him  to  a 
life  of  disrespect  and  self-reproach,  and  at  last  sink  him 
down  to  the  undying  torments  of  hell ;  all  of  Avhich  cal- 
culations come  in  as  motives  to  sustain  him  in  his  trying 
but  momentary  struggles.  I  could  not  select  a  stronger 
case  to  show  the  power  of  motives,  and  howlhe  stronger 
motive  will  always  prevail  even  unto  death.  Thousands 
upon  thousands  of  the  superstitious  have  starved  and 
maimed  themselves  to  death  under  the  powerful  motive 
of  rapturous  and  eternal  joys.  The  man  who  commits 
suicide,  has  an  overwhelming  motive  to  get  rid  of  some 
agonizing  distress  and  hopeless  despair.  The  poor  drunk- 
ard, whose  gastric  and  nervous  influences  are  aggravated 
to  an  insufferable  extent,  might  seem  to  act  upon  reverse 
principles  in  seeking  temporary  relief  to  the  hazard  of 
permanent  disgrace,  want,  and  squalid  misery;  and  yet, 
his  motive  acts  are  perfectly  legitimate.  He  bears  with 
the  urging  wants  and  with  his  sinking  spirits,  till  his 
feelings  are  overwhelmed  by  a  depressing  melancholy 
that  obscures  the  future.  Besides,  a  pride  and  self-vanity, 
which  blinds  us  from  seeing  ourselves  as  others  see  us, 
and  tlien  that  blessed  hope,  delusive  as  it  may  l)e,  tliat 
biioyM  IIS  ii|i  (hroiiirh  life,  rttnics  in  ;ind   siishiins  him  with 


78  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND." 

ji  belief  that  ho  will  not  go  like  others,  and  bj^  relieving 
his  agonies  for  a  moment,  ho  will  not  lose  the  resolution 
that  is  ultimately  to  reform  him.  Under  a  clear  sky, 
however,  he  sees  himself  mirrored  as  ho  is,  when  he  shud- 
ders and  shrinks  with  horror  from  the  sight,  and  then  it 
is  that  he  takes  Bible-oaths  and  temperance  pledges  ;  but 
soon  again,  dark  clouds  overhang  his  ill-fated  star, 
inward  storms  arise,  and  our  jjooi";  frail,  and  afflicted 
brother,  feeling  what  we  can  not — the  irrepressible  mon- 
ster gnawing  at  his  heart's  strings — yields  his  every 
earthly  prospect  and  becomes  a  raving  maniac,  or  a 
mournful  melancholy  seizes  upon  him  and  depresses  him 
down  to  hopeless  despair.  He,  under  these  circumstances, 
takes  palliating  draughts,  just  as  one  suffering  under  an 
excruciating  and  incurable  malady  is  prone  to  do.  Here 
is  a  case  that  shows  the  necessity  of  an  early  and  well- 
grounded  education  in  sober  and  steady  habits,  and  in 
a  knowledge  of  our  constitution  of  mind  and  body,  and 
the  laws  of  nature  under  which  we  "live,  move  and  have 
our  being."  If,  instead  of  spending  our  lives  in  the  study 
of  dead  languages  and  clogging  our  brains  with  a  chaotic 
mass  of  other  such  trifles,  we  were  put  to  early  training 
in  the  active  and  efiicient  laws  of  nature  that  hourly  act 
upon  our  sensibilities  for  weal  or  for  woe,  education, 
instead  of  being  pedantic  and  degrading  to  humanity, 
would  become  elevating  and  ennobling.  And  thus,  in- 
stead of  making  an  arrogant  and  supercilious  disjDlay  of 
a  vacillating  and  artistic  nonsense,  we  should  be  well 
grounded  and  wise  in  the  immutable  and  eternal  laws 
of  our  Creator.  Were  this  the  case,  and  nine-tenths  of 
our  canting  demagogues  (who  are  more  corrupt  and  wily 
than  the  devil  himself  in  sowing  the  seeds  of  Jacobinical 
corruption  and  dissipation)  made  inmates  of  our  peniten- 
tiaries, there  would  yet  be  some  hope  of  reform  from  the 
threatened  destiny  of  man,  and  the  pending  dissolution 
of  this  happy  government. 


WILL.  79 

In  recurring  to  the  more  powerful  j^assions  and  emo- 
tions of  soul  that  absorb  every  other  feeling,  and  that 
often  lead  us  as  blind  cajitives  to  disgrace  and  misery, 
I  will  mention  a  clergyman  of  my  acquaintance,  who, 
having  no  resolution  to  restrain  his  amative  projjensities, 
and  believing  that  even  concupiscence  was  a  sin,  his 
motive  for  honor,  virtue  and  religion  was  so  powerful  as 
to  induce  him  to  take  the  knife  and  emasculate  himself. 
Poor,  silly  man!  who  might  as  well  have  considered 
hunger  a  crime  and  cut  out  his  stomach,  cursing  God  for 
giving  us  those  vulgar  jDassions  and  brutal  propensities, 
with  which  he  might  have  made  some  woman  as  haj)py  as 
was  Sarah,  the  wife  of  Abraham  and  mother  of  Isaac,  in 
compliance  with  the  decreed  laws  of  procreation,  planted 
in  our  very  constitutions  by  God  himself  St.  Paul  was 
thus  much  troubled  with  a  member  of  his  body,  which  he 
called  a  thorn  in  his  flesh ;  but  did  not  aim  to  destroy  that 
nature  which  God  gave  him  for  the  best  of  puriDoscs. 
Under  an  all-absorbing  passion  for  revenge,  men  often 
take  life,  and  then,  under  a  change  of  feeling  equally 
uncontrollable,  they  destroy  themselves;  a  horrid  act 
which  no  one  would  commit  had  he  power  to  feel  or  do 
otherwise,  for  he  could  not  desire  death  but  as  a  dreadful 
alternative  from  greater  evils. 

A  very  common  argument  in  favor  of  free-will  is  this — 
if  persons  can  not  control  their  will,  why  should  every- 
body think  so,  and  blame  them  for  their  acts.  The  only 
answer  to  this  seeming  something  is,  that  the  error  lies  in 
our  own  selfish  sensations;  so  much  so,  that  we  hate 
everything  which  gives  us  pain,  or  that  is  even  unpleas- 
ant to  our  sight,  and  hence  it  is  that  we  kill  snakes,  that 
are  not  accountable  for  their  nature,  and  hate  and  punish 
many  a  poor  creature  because  uncomely  to  oui-  sight,  or 
run  cou)itei"  to  our  feelings  juid  interest. 

Anylhing    lli;il     nbsti'iicls    oiii-    view    In   liap|)ineHS,   or 


80  THE    TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

excites  painful  sensation,  is  at  once  liated,  and  hence  the 
unreasonable  jirejudice  against  the  innocent  vessel  out  of 
which  we  have  taken  medicine  when  sick,  and  the  una- 
voidable disgust  at  serving  of  soup  in  a  night-vessel, 
though  equally  as  clean  and  as  pure  as  a  china  tureen. 
We  will  by-and-by  hate  the  approach  and  looks  of  the 
friend  who  tells  us  of  our  faults  or  brings  us  bad  news, 
while  we  love  flattery  and  pleasing  intelligence.  We  can 
not  avoid  hating  the  looks  of  a  man  scabbed  all  over  with 
small-pox,  or  leprosy,  or  any  deformity,  though  such 
unfortunate  person  can  not  hel^D  it;  and  so  with  every 
object  of  life  —  our  fancies,  our  loves  and  hatreds  not 
necessarily  being  founded,  in  justice  but  in  our  own 
feelings  that  arise  from  our  individual  and  varied  organ- 
izations, sensations  and  aptitudes  to  impressions  made 
by  the  objects  of  sense,  or  arising  from  our  emotions 
within.  Were  love  and  hatred  bestowed  ui)on  merit,  we 
should  have  more  happy  matches,  and  men  of  moral 
worth  would  fill  the  offices  of  government,  instead  of 
canting  demagogues,  who  cater  to  the  lowest  and  grossest 
prejudices  of  the  masses,  who  are  led  astray  by  those  very 
feelings  that  I  am  combating.  Hasty  and  inconsiderate 
persons  will  take  up  and  break  an  innocent  stone  against 
which  they  have  stumped  their  toe,  and  the  poor  and 
undefending  brute  is  unmercifully  beaten  because  unable 
to  bear  the  burden  imposed  upon  him ;  but  this  prejudice 
of  ours  is  no  proof  of  a  just  foundation  in  the  nature  of 
things.  One  who  flatters  us  or  contributes  to  our  pros- 
perity is  loved ;  but  let  him  become  a  competitor  and 
adversary,  and  he  is  at  once  hated,  though  honorable 
and  beloved  by  others.  It  is  a  common  expression,  I 
hate  such  a  person  (or  an  object) — not  from  any  merit  or 
demerit,  or  willful  act,  but  simply  because  such  are  our 
feelinffs  and  hatreds  to  all  who  do  not  act  in  accordance 
with  our  wishes.     Let  any  man  try  wlicthcr  he  can  keep 


WILL.  81 

his  own  temper  in  riding  a  blind  or  stumbling  horse, 
where  it  is  obvious  the  animal  can  not  help  it,  and  he 
will  find  that  his  flash  of  passion  and  the  application  of 
his  lash  to  an  unavoidable  act  was  actually  simultaneous 
with  the  inoffensive  offense,  and  before  he  had  time  to 
think  or  reason  upon  the  injustice  of  his  own  conduct — 
showing  that«unavoidable  things,  as  well  as  avoidable, 
when  they  inflict  pain  upon  us,  get  up  at  once  a  feeling 
of  resistance ;  and,  on  the  contrary,  when  they  give  us 
pleasure,  we  desire  to  embrace  them.  So  that  we  will 
see  from  the  ever-varying  counter-currents  and  emotions 
of  our  own  minds,  that  we  should  be  cautious  how  we 
inflict  cruelty  upon  our  fellows ;  for  it  is  impossible,  in  the 
nature  of  things  they  should  feel  and  think  with  ourselves, 
or  act  to  please  us.  The  impartial  observance  of  such 
facts,  then,  as  I  have  related,  must  clearly  convince  us 
that,  though  God  has  endowed  us  with  watchful  feelings 
of  self-preservation,  and  a  hatred  of  everything  that  runs 
counter  to  our  interests,  it  requires  close  guarding  not 
to  become  the  instruments  of  great  injustice,  and  the 
destroyers  of  others'  rights.  He  has  also  given  us  fire 
and  water  as  blessings,  when  properly  used ;  yet,  if  not 
strictly  guarded,  they  may  become  elements  of  destruc- 
tion. It  must  appear,  then,  to  the  observing  reader,  that 
we  arc  governed  by  circumstances,  and,  farther,  that  we 
arc  made  to  differ  as  much  in  mind  as  we  do  in  body,  in 
constitution,  in  temperament,  in  health,  and  in  the  vari- 
ous vicissitudes  of  fortune  and  afflictions  of  life  —  all 
which  tend,  unavoidably,  to  form  the  character  of  man. 
Our  feelings,  thoughts,  and  emotions  of  soul  are  as 
diversified  as  the  objects  that  surround  us :  every  new 
scene  in  nature,  and  all  the  changing  events  of  life, 
develop  in  the  human  mind  their  appropriate  feelings 
ami  affections.  The  fondest  love  and  the  fcllest  hate 
may,  alternately,  possess  the  same  soul ;  while  the  most 


82  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

malignant  revenge  may  be  quickly  folloAved  by  remorse, 
humility,  repentance,  and  forgiveness. 

How,  then,  in  the  face  of  all  these  facts,  can  any 
author  maintain  that  we  are  not  fatally  influenced  by 
circumstances,  but  that  we  have  a  divine,  instinctive, 
and  unerring  conscience  as  a  guide,  and  a  will  to  exe- 
cute, that  is  above  circumstances,  and  wliich  can  bring 
the  thoughts  and  movements  of  all  men  under  one  unde- 
viating  rule  and  standard  of  action?  We  hear  such  men 
constantly  saying,  Well,  I  would  not  let  such  and  such 
feelings  trouble  me.  The  mother  is  told  to  dry  up  her 
tears,  and  to  consider  the  loss  of  her  child  a  blessing. 
The  lover  is  a  fool  for  entertaining  such  frivolous  and 
childish  passions ;  and  the  man  who  has  lost  his  all  on 
earth  is  weak  to  permit  a  regret  to  enter  his  mind.  Such 
advisers  are  doubtless  honest  enough  in  their  soothing 
injunctions,  but  they  certainly  fly  directly  in  the  face  of 
both  God  and  man,  in  attempting  to  subvert  the  estab- 
lished and  undeviating  laws  of  mentality,  that  can  no 
more  be  severed  from  the  circumstances  that  beget  them 
than  effects  can  from  the  causes  which  produce  them. 
Just  as  rational  would  it  be  to  say  to  a  man  whose  hand 
is  in  the  fire,  Why,  my  dear  sir,  I  would  not  allow  the 
idea  of  pain  to  enter  my  head,  but  sum  up  resolution, 
and  consider  the  feeling  pleasurable;  or  to  admonish  a 
hungry  man  not  to  allow  so  vulgar  a  thing  as  the  stomach 
to  control  his  feelings. 

But,  to  the  point ;  you  will  still  affirm  that  you  can  do 
as  you  please,  and  so  I  say ;  and,  farther,  that  you  can  not, 
to  save  your  life,  do  otherwise  than  as  you  please ;  for 
then,  indeed,  could  you  will  to  be  free  to  act  contrary  to 
your  will,  or,  in  other  words,  to  all  the  motives  and 
feelings  that  beget  will.  To  say  that  you  can  do  as  you 
please,  is  exactly  the  same  as  to  say  you  can  be  pleased 
with  what  you  are  pleased,  will  as  you  will,  and  do  as 


WILL.  83 

you  do.  This  is  cei'tainly  talking  nonsense,  and  saying 
nothing  in  favor  of  free-will,  or  will  got  up  without  a 
cause  or  motive  to  act  contrary  to  what  Ave  please. 
Pause  and  think  this  over  and  over,  till,  by-and-by,  you 
will  see  clear  enough,  that  there  is  no  voluntary  act  of 
life  without  a  desire  to  act ;  and,  farther,  that  desire  can 
not  exist  without  an  antecedent,  or  object  of  desire ;  and 
again,  that  the  mind  can  no  more  alter  the  nature  of  that 
motive  or  object  of  desire,  or  avoid  its  impression,  than 
it  can  alter  the  nature  of  a  red-hot  iron  apj^lied  to  the 
surface,  or  avoid  the  j^ain  resulting  therefrom.  But  we 
constantly  feel  that  we  can  do  as  we  desire,  upon  the 
application  of  the  object  of  desire,  just  as  we  can  feel  as 
we  do  feel  upon  the  application  of  the  red-hot  iron  ;  they 
both  being  results,  and  as  unavoidable  as  the  impression 
of  light  when  it  flashes  upon  the  open  eye. 

How  the  will  can  be  both  the  determiner  and  deter- 
mined, I  can  not  conceive.  Again,  for  the  will  to  change 
itself  from  itself,  and  make  itself  what  by  nature  itself  is 
not,  is  equally  difficult.  And  again,  for  the  will  to  rise 
without  an  object  and  fit  itself  to  an  object  without  any 
necessary  connection  or  causal  dependence  upon  that 
object,  is,  if  possible,  still  more  absurd.  The  Avill  to 
change  itself  from  itself,  must  make  a  change  in  itself, 
and  con.sequently  leave  itself  not  itself  So  we  see,  that, 
by  the  mutation  of  self-wills,  would  the  identity  of  mind 
soon  be  destroyed;  as,  for  a  thing  to  change  from  what  it 
was,  is  to  be  no  longer  the  same  that  it  was.  How  a  will 
can  will  a  will  into  existence  for  a  particular  pur])osc, 
without  a  purpose  or  motive  to  will,  is  again  wholly 
incomprehensible.  If  the  will  be  determined  to  a  certain 
purpose,  it  must  be  by  something  that  determines  it  to 
that  purpose,  which  determiner  is  assuredly  the  motive 
to  action,  and  nothing  else.  Tiierc  can  be  no  voluntary 
action  without  a  will  to  act.  and  no  will  to  act  witlioiit  a 


84  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

choice  or  object  of  action.  So  that  it  must  be  found  that 
the  object  is  the  foundation  both  of  will  and  action.  There 
being  a  preference  in  every  active  mind,  that  preference 
is  the  cause  of  action  ;  otherwise  we  must  prefer  nothing 
to  nothing,  and  as  such  preference  exists  in  the  quality 
and  nature  of  things  themselves,  the  will  has  no  indepen- 
dent or  self-creating  powers ;  that  which  fixed  and  deter- 
mined the  mind,  being  just  as  independent  of  the  mind 
as  the  medicine  which  acts  upon  the  body  is  independent 
of  the  body.  When  tartar  assails  the  stomach,  the  stom- 
ach could  say,  I  can  puke  just  as  I  please,  or  do  puke,  and 
the  bowels  could  say  the  same  under  the  motive  influence 
of  calomel.  To  say  that  a  man  can  will  as  he  wills,  or 
choose  as  he  chooses,  or  that  he  can  follow  his  own  incli- 
nations, is  the  same  as  to  say  that  a  man  can  grow  as  he 
grows,  die  as  he  dies,  or  that  water  can  run  the  way  that 
it  does  run  or  is  inclined  to  run.  And  to  say  that  a  man 
can  act  contrary  to  his  prevailing  inclinations,  is  to  say  that 
we  can  choose  contrary  to  our  choice,  or  prefer  contrary 
to  our  choice,  or  prefer  contrary  to  our  preference,  or  that 
a  thing  can  be  different  from  what  by  nature  it  is.  The 
mind  has  no  more  power  to  cause  itself  to  prefer  contrary 
to  its  preference,  or  to  prefer  and  not  to  prefer  at  the 
same  time,  than  it  has  to  cure  a  fever,  or  mend  a  broken 
leg,  or  to  be  and  not  to  be  at  the  same  time.  He  simply 
has  power  to  do  as  he  wills,  but  has  no  power  over  his 
will  to  do  what  he  does  not  wish  or  will  to  do.  According 
to  the  free-will  doctrine,  the  good  will,  in  order  to  get  rid 
of  the  ill-chosen  will,  determines  without  a  motive  or 
choice  to  get  up  a  will  without  a  choice,  or  to  annihilate 
itself  till  it  can  consult  with  itself  upon  the  best  choice. 
They  talk  about  one  will  suspending  another  will,  but 
this  again  must  be  found  grossly  absurd.  Suspension 
and  action  being  as  incompatible  as  motion  and  rest,  for 
in  that  suspension  there  can  bo  no  change  of  will,  and 


WILL.  85 

change  and  action  being  the  same,  there  can  be  no  action, 
good  or  bad,  attending  a  suspension  of  will.     Now,  as  it 
has  been  shown  that  all  wills  spring  froni  motive  or  de- 
sign, these  motives  or  objects  of  design  exist  without  and 
independent  of  the  will,  or  the  will  before  it  can  will  must 
will  to  give  itself  a  motive  to  will — which  power  must  be 
a  creative  power — no  such  motive  or  object  having  existed 
previous  to  such  will.     And  thus  it  is  seen  that  these  free 
wills  are  free  gods,  without  God's  government  and  beyond 
the  sphere   of   his   causal   dependencies — that   they   are 
governed  by  no  fixed  law  or  rule  of  action,  and,  what  is 
more  startling  still,  that  they  give  the  lie  to  God's  re- 
vealed word,  that  he  is  the  Author  of  all  things,  and  the 
Lawgiver  and  Euler  over  all  things  by  fixed  and  undevi- 
ating  principles.     Thus  we  find  that  the  doctrine  of  free- 
will  is   encumbered   with   a  thousand    vague    and    self- 
contradictory  assumptions,  quibbles,  and   shallow  shifts, 
at  war  with  nature,  while  that  of  necessity,  being  founded 
upon  the  immutable  and  eternal  laws  of  causality,  is  as 
truthful,  simple,  and  comprehensible  as  nature  itself,  being 
nothing  more  in  reality  than  a  conformity  to  the  universal 
aptitude,  fitness,  and  causal  dependencies  of  all  things  as 
founded  and  fixed  by  the  hand  of  Almighty  God  himself. 
A  few  illustrations  will  show  how  simple  it  is  to  have 
our  wills  excited  by  the  things  we  will  to  do.     Suppose 
yourself  lost  in  the  wild  woods,  as  I  have  been,  and  wiien 
shivering,  hungry,  and  half  frozen,  you  see  your  camp- 
fire,  friends,  and  food  at  hand,  O,  what  delight  at  once 
fills  the  mind  and  gives  it  a  pleasure  and  power  to  go  to 
it,  or  rather,  it  causes  or  pleases  the  mind  to  do  just  as  it 
pleases.     Here,    now,    (as  I  often    rej)eat  it  in  different 
forms)  is  a  case  which  will  fit  every  other  act  of  life,  and 
as  an  honest  man,  I  ask  you  what  it  was  but  the  fire  and 
the  pleasures  attending  it  which  took  you  to  the  fire?  Haven 
would  answer,  it  was  not  the  fire  nor  the  motive  of  pleasure. 


86  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

but  the  mind  which  took  you  to  it — a  petty  quibble  un- 
worthy the  name  of  philosopliy,  and  wliich  only  returns 
the  question  to  us  in  a  different  form — what  was  it  that 
caused  the  mind  to  be  pleased  to  take  you  to  it?  The 
mind  of  itself,  with  all  its  powerful  wills  and  faculties 
falsely  given  it,  could  give  itself  no  such  comfort  as  the 
cami:)-fire  did;  but  now  mark  it,  the  light  flashed  upon  it 
and  made  it  pleased  to  do  as  it  pleased. 

Suppose  a  desire  or  will  comes  up  in  the  mind,  from 
some  prevailing  cause,  to  go  and  see  a  neighbor,  how 
quickly  will  the  legs  be  put  in  motion  to  do  so;  but  if 
told  by  the  way  that  the  friend  is  not  at  home,  which  fact 
the  will  has  nothing  to  do  with,  yet  this  fact  at  once 
creates  a  will  for  a  counter-movement;  and  just  so  with 
all  the  acting,  counter-acting,  and  checkered  movements 
of  life;  the  nature,  or  quality,  or  inducement  of  the  thing 
presented  for  choice  being  the  cause  of  will  or  motive  of 
choice,  having  neither  room  nor  apology  for  self-created 
wills,  independent  of,  and  holding  no  necessary  connec- 
tion with,  the  properties  and  nature  of  the  things  them- 
selves. This  is  all  natural  and  easy,  while  the  idea  of  the 
will  creating  the  quality  sought  by  the  will,  and  then 
creating  another  will  to  obtain  that  quality,  as  free-willers 
would  say,  is  complicated  and  unnatural. 

In  farther  illustration  of  how  wills  are  gotten  up,  I  say 
to  a  man :  Sir,  you  are  not  free  to  get  uj)  and  walk ;  this  at 
once  creates  an  ambition,  will,  or  desire  to  walk,  and  he 
does  so,  falsely  feeling  that  the  will  was  gotten  up  by  him- 
self, when,  in  reality,  that  will  was  the  necessary  result  of 
my  banter;  for  no  such  will  would  ever  have  existed,  or 
such  movement  have  taken  j)lace  but  for  that  banter.  The 
very  expression  of  a  man,  that  he  is  ft-ee  and  can  do  as  he 
pleases,  at  once  betrays  the  fact  that  he  is  already  pos- 
sessed with  a  feeling,  inclination  and  ambition  to  do  so, 
which  feeling,  inclination,  and  ambition  are  not  inherent 


WILL,  87 

qualities,  or  veritable  things  in  the  mind,  but  mere  con- 
ditions or  modes  of  mind,  produced  by  the  inherent 
quality  or  nature  of  things  that  operate  upon  the  mind. 
The  mind  of  a  man  may  be  in  a  perfectly  pacific  mode  or 
condition,  and  he  is  called  a  liar  and  thief,  and  the  mind 
is  at  once  agitated  and  belligerent  in  its  feeling,  not  from 
anything  internal  or  from  nothing  (take  notice)  but  from 
the  words  spoken.  Here  were  no  self-creations  of  words 
or  thoughts ;  but  you  will  say,  now  is  the  time  to  show 
that  a  man  can  do  as  he  pleases,  strike  or  not  strike  in 
revenge,  and  I  will  agree  with  you  that  he  can,  as  he  may 
please,  strike  or  not  strike ;  but  his  being  pleased  to  act 
or  not  act,  is  to  be  the  result  of  agencies,  over  which  he 
has  no  more  control  than  he  had  over  the  words  which 
excited  him.  If  by  constitution  he  be  apathetic  and 
cowardly,  or  if  by  education  he  is  in  principle  opposed  to 
vulgar  conflicts,  he  will  not  resist ;  but  if  on  the  contrary, 
he,  by  his  unavoidable  nature,  has  an  irritable  temper - 
ment,  and  has  by  his  education  a  different  view  of  what 
constitutes  honor,  and  obtaining  chivalrous  cast  in  society, 
he  will  certainly,  if  not  a  coward,  strike.  All  the  tempta- 
tions, passions,  and  emotions  of  soul,  are  alike  governed 
by  their  exciting  causes.  The  best  tobacco  in  the  world 
offers  no  temptation  to  me;  where,  then,  is  the  virtue  in 
me  for  avoiding  both  it  and  spirits,  for  which  I  have  as 
little  desii-e.  These  are,  however,  irresistible  temptations 
to  others,  when  no  counteracting  inclination  prevails.  I 
can  not  help,  from  my  nature,  but  dislike  both  whisky 
and  tobacco,  while  others  can  not,  from  their  nature, 
avoid  liking  both. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  mind  is  governed  in  the 
exercise  of  faith  by  abstract  things,  just  as  our  desires 
are  by  concrete  things;  and  it  also  must  appear,  upon 
investigation,  that  tliero  is  neither  merit  nor  demerit 
in  faitli  ;  for  where  is  the  merit  in  l)elicving  that  which 


88  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

WO  can  not  hclj)  but  believe  ?  and  where  the  demerit  in 
disbelieving  that  which  it  is  impossible  to  believe  ?  For 
instance,  that  two  and  two  make  four,  carries  a  con  vie. 
tion  to  the  mind  that  can  not  be  resisted,  while  the 
assertion  that  two  and  two  make  six,  conveys  as 
irresistible  a  disbelief;  and  these  simple  facts  and  illus- 
trations show  the  principles  upon  which  all  faith  is 
founded.  There  is  every  degree  of  natural  organization 
and  temperament ;  every  degree  of  education  and  of 
maturity  and  experience  in  life  ;  every  degree  of  circum- 
stances that  hourly  imj)ress  us  ;  and  there  are  endless 
vicissitudes  of  fortune  and  affliction  moulding  us  to 
the  necessity  of  the  case.  Sore  afflictions  beget  sadness, 
sorrow  and  sighing,  while  the  flush  of  fortune  and 
buoyancy  of  health  produce  mirth  and  laughter,  and 
these  vacillations  of  soul  are  the  necessary  results  or 
effects  of  their  aj)propriate  causes.  The  Protestant  and 
the  Catholic  who  go  to  the  stake,  and  the  Hindoo  who 
is  crushed  under  the  wheels  of  Juggernaut,  are  governed 
alike  by  their  unavoidable  faith,  and  each  are  entitled  to 
equal  merit,  if  merit  attaches  to  that  which  it  is  not 
in  our  jjower  to  resist ;  so  that  the  man  who  believes 
either  in  religion  or  in  the  common  affairs  of  life,  is  upon 
a  footing  with  him  who  unavoidably  disbelieves.  Now, 
though  a  man  can  not  help  his  belief,  we  hate  him  for 
it,  and  even  j)ut  him  to  death,  because  his  unavoidable 
faith  runs  counter  to  our  unavoidable  faith,  and  lessens 
our  interests  and  prospects  of  happiness,  here  and 
hereafter.  We  hate  a  disagreeable  sound,  and  things 
that  are  unpleasant  to  sight,  smell,  taste  and  touch  ;  and 
even  hate  a  man  because  he  is  homely,  or  loathsomely 
ugly,  while  we  love  those  that  are  beautiful  and 
charming,  though  we  know  they  cannot  help  their 
nature,  and  that  they  have  neither  merit  nor  demerit 
in    them.     These    illustrations    I    introduce   to    explain 


WILL.  89 

the  constant  question  asked — why  are  people  punished  ? 
and  everybody  think  they  ought  to  be  punished  if  they 
could  help  the  belief,  or  faith,  for  which  they  are  pun- 
ished. Though  it  is  impossible  that  God,  without 
violating  his  attributes  of  love  and  mercy,  can  punish  us 
for  an  honest  belief,  yet  it  is  necessary  that  man  should 
punish  man  with  a  view  of  reform  in  himself  or  examj)le 
to  society,  or  confine  him  to  avoid  evil  to  others ;  just 
as  we  will  kill  a  snake,  shoot  a  mad  dog,  or  confine 
a  madman,  though  all  of  them  act  under  their  unavoid- 
able nature,  and  the  injurious  power  of  circumstances. 
Punishments  and  examples  have  their  necessary  influ- 
ences upon  us  to  do  good  as  well  as  evil,  and  hence 
the  consistency  of  punishment  under  the  law  of  necessity. 
The  most  honorable  and  best  regulated  nation  in  the 
world  is  in  South  America,  they  having  but  four  laws — no 
murderers,  no  thieves,  no  liars,  and  no  idlers-;  all  put 
to  death',  thus  begetting  such  a  terror  to  evil  doers  that 
evil  is  almost  unknown  ;  and  no  taxation  to  support  a 
vast  army  of  judges,  lawyers,  and  other  parasites  who 
live  upon  our  substance.  A  man  who  knows  he  will 
be  punished  for  certain  acts  will  be  necessarily  impressed 
with  the  fact  and  the  fear  which  counteracts  the  tempta- 
tion to  indulge.  Knowing,  for  instance,  the  fatal  fact 
that  fire  will  burn  and  water  drown,  will  deter  us  from 
running  into  them  ;  so  that  it  will  be  seen,  as  before 
exemplified,  in  the  early  part  of  this  article,  it  is  the 
doctrine  of  an  early  and  well-grounded  education  in 
whatever  direction  we  wish  the  youth  to  be  guided  j 
for  be  as.sured  that  education  has  as  powerful  a  govern- 
ment over  the  youthful  mind  as  the  rein  has  over  the 
guidance  of  the  horse.  The  Hindoo  widow  mounts  the 
fuiiei'al  pihi,  and  is  consumed  with  the  dead  body  of 
her  husband,  while  tlie  Cliristiun  wi<h)w  holds  to  life 
and  looks  out  for  another  husband  ;  showing  the  wonder- 


90  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

ful  power  of  education,  and  circumstances  in  giving  us 
faith  (a  conscience)  as  well  as  a  will  to  execute.  But 
to  the  text : — 

A  man,  I  repeat  it,  can  certainly  do  as  he  pleases, 
and  he  can  not  do  otherwise  ;  but  in  every  pleasure  to 
act,  there  is  a  sufficient,  and,  consequently,  necessary 
cause  of  pleasure,  which  cause  is  not  the  subjective  mind, 
that  can  not  act  upon  itself  any  more  than  a  stone  can  act 
upon  itself,  but  is  without  the  mind,  and  an  object  of 
desire  by  the  mind ;  which  two,  when  brought  into 
contact,  create  a  new  condition  of  mind  (this  pleasure  we 
so  much  harp  on)  to  act.  This  is  simple,  and  in  full 
harmony  with  the  universal  laws  of  causality,  while 
for  a  thing  to  act  upon  itself  and  bring  forth  a  new 
creation  within  itself,  without  materials  on  which  to 
work,  is  complicated  and  incomprehensible — yes,  impossi- 
ble. How  one  thing  can  02)erate  upon  another,  every- 
body can  understand ;  as  an  acid  upon  an  alkali  or 
salifiable  base,  where  the  product  is  a  new  creation  by 
the  union  and  combined  agency  of  them  both  ;  nor  is 
there  a  conception,  action,  or  product  of  any  kind,  mental 
or  physical,  short  of  God  himself,  but  what  must  proceed 
from  the  fixed  and  unalterable  laws  of  dualism.  It  is  just 
as  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  mind  has  made  itself, 
that  it  can  resist  the  tragical  scenes  and  unnumbered 
fluctuations  and  afilictions,  yes  and  even  death  itself, 
as  to  say  it  can  create  or  originate  ideas  within  itself. 
If  the  reader  will  reflect  a  moment,  he  will  see  that  this 
would  be  to  make  something  out  of  nothing,  a  thing, 
I  have  said,  and  say  again,  impossible.  If  a  man's 
thoughts  and  desires  have  an  existence,  they  either 
came  from  something  or  from  nothing ;  and  as  they 
invariably  come  fitted  to  some  object,  end,  or  desire,  such 
object,  end,  or  desire  must  have  been  the  cause  of  that 
desire.     It  is  just  as  simple  and  reasonable  that  the  mind 


WILL.  91 

should   turn    to    the   object,  as  the  needle  point  should 
turn  to  the  pole. 

I  here  relate  a  little  incident  that  illustrates  two  great 
leading  principles  :  I  had  a  sprightly  and  interesting 
j)uppy,  to  which  the  cook  often  threw  egg-shells,  thus 
teaching  it  to  eat  eggs ;  the  result  being  the  breaking 
up  of  all  my  setting  hens  and  loss  of  chickens.  All  this, 
however,  my  fond  attachment  induced  me  to  put  up  with  ; 
but  another  branch  of  education  caused  its  death. 
Breachy  sheep  occasionally  entering  my  yard,  I  set 
little  Fidel  after  them,  and  was  often  greatly  amused 
to  sec  the  little  creature  in  full  chase,  tight  and  tight, 
after  a  flock  of  great  sheep  ;  when  on  its  return  it  would 
frisk  around  me,  and  looking  up  with  innoceat  laughter, 
seemed  to  say :  "I  did  what  j^ou  told  me ;  wasn't  it  funny?" 
By  and  by,  however,  its  training  led  it  to  killing  sheep  ; 
but  not,  however,  till  I  thus  lost  ten  or  twelve  by  its 
example  in  learning  others  to  help  it,  had  I  courage 
to  take  its  life,  knowing  that  the  fault  was  not  in  the  dog, 
but  in  myself;  nor  had  I  myself  a  heart,  or  will,  to 
perpetrate  the  deed,  but  hired  another  to  do  it.  This 
illustrates  two  vital  principles:  1st.  The  force  of  educa- 
tion for  good  or  for  evil,  even  upon  the  brute;  2d.  The 
necessity  of  punishing,  or  taking  life,  to  prevent  dis- 
astrous consequences,  and  to  save  the  lives  of  many. 
Parents  and  friends  often  think  it  smai't  to  hear  their 
little  ones  swear  or  commit  innocent  dej)redation8,  as  I 
did  little  Fidel,  not  thinking  it  might  lead  to  their 
destruction. 

The  question  under  consideration,  when  properly  un- 
derstood, is  not  whether  wc  can  do  as  we  will  to  do — for 
that  is  granted  to  be  unavoidable — but  wliat  it  is  tliat 
causes  us  to  will  or  desire  t(^  do  what  wc  do;  and  wImIIhi- 
that  will  or  desire  be  in  Hk;  oIjjccI  willed  liu-  or  desired, 
or  a    lucre  spontaneity  of  iniinl,  IuivIiil:;  ho  aii(ecc!deiii,  or 


92  THE   TRUE    rHILOSOPlIY    OP   MIND. 

necessary  cause  of  existence — an  offspring  of  nothing?  and 
what  more  miraculous,  that  a  self-created  will  should 
come  fitted  to  a  specific  purpose  without  a  purpose.  This 
proximate  feeling  and  conscious  fact,  that  we  can  do 
as  we  desire,  is  like  the  feeling  that  we  can  call  up  to 
mind,  by  memory,  what  we  desire  to  do ;  but  in  neither 
of  which  cases  do  we  feel  or  arc  we  conscious  of  the 
remote  causes  that  brought  these  desires  to  the  mind, 
any  more  than  we  feel  the  miasma  of  fever  or  the  cause 
of  small-pox ;  though  we  acutely  feel,  and  are  conscious 
of  the  present  action,  and  see  the  results ;  just  as  we  do 
those  of  will,  without  knowing  what  caused  us  thus  to 
will.  Now,  it  would  be  just  as  rational  to  say  that 
diseases  ai^d  excitements  of  our  bodies  are  self-created 
things  and  without  a  cause,  because  unconscious  of  a 
cause,  as  to  say  that  our  mental  phenomena  is  without 
a  cause. 

Persons  will  assert  that  thoy  can  call  up  by  name 
anything  they  may  please,  without  knowing  the  fact  that 
that  very  thing  is  already  in  the  mind,  for  otherwise 
they  could  not  name  that  thing  as  an  object  of  thought. 
For  instance,  a  man  says,  I  will  now  call  up  Australia; 
but,  except  he  first  thought  of  Australia,  how,  I  ask, 
could  he  call  for  Australia  any  more  than  to  call  up 
an  unknown  language  and  speak  it?  To  call  for  a 
thing  without  knowing  what  to  call  for,  or  name  a 
thing  without  already  knowing  the  name  of  that  thing, 
is  too  ridiculous  to  argue  about;  and  just  so  in  regard  to 
our  strong  and  conscious  present  feeling  of  being  able  to 
do  as  we  desire;  so  long  have  we  been  in  the  habit  of 
acting  from  the  immediate  promptings  of  our  feelings 
(like  seeking  the  cooling  water  under  a  burning  fever) 
that  we  never  search  back  for  the  remote  cause;  and 
thus  it  is  that  we  naturally  enough  imagine  that  our  own 
will,  before  we  have  a  will,  begets  a  will,  aside  from  all 


WILL.  93 

causes,  motives,  inducements,  or  qualities  in  the  things 
sought  for.  One  may  say,  I  will  now  repeat  the  alpha- 
bet; but  who  could  ever  do  so,  simple  as  it  is,  without 
first  learning  and  knowing  it? 

Volitions  often  arise,  not  from  any  immediate,  external, 
or  obvious  cause,  but  from  internal  rumination,  or  reflec- 
tive thought — as  in  acts  of  revenge  long  after  an  injury 
or  insult.  The  dark  and  dreadful  act  of  Col.  Sharp's  assas- 
sination, at  Frankfort,  Ky.,  was  of  this  kind,  which  took 
place  years  after  the  alleged  off'ense.  Many  better  oppor- 
tunities were  doubtless  offered  during  this  time  to  commit 
the  bloody  deed;  but  we  must  account  for  the  delay 
from  the  murderer's  health  or  condition  of  system,  which 
enabled  him  to  resist  the  temptation.  We  are  often  re- 
minded of  things  past  and  forgotten  by  our  dreams,  and 
thousands  of  hidden  and  functional  causes  prompt  our 
wills  to  action  that  otherwise  would  never  have  existed. 
Many  persons  live  an  honest  life  for  many  years,  and 
then  take  to  stealing ;  sober  men  in  later  years  become 
dissipated,  while  sane  men  may  ultimately  die  in  a  lunatic 
asylum.  These  mutations  of  mind  are  not  from  divine 
influence,  or  God's  immediate  presence,  but  from  physical 
and  functional  causes,  and  can  no  more  be  helped  than 
any  other  morbid  condition  of  system.  Mental,  as  well 
as  bodily,  afliictions — as  hydrophobia  and  consiimption — 
may  lie  dormant  for  many  years,  and  ultimately  kill. 
Everything,  mentally  and  bodily,  as  well  as  all  organic 
being,  has  its  period  of  incubation  and  time  for  develop- 
ment. Wo  gain  not  our  knowledge  in  a  day,  nor  does 
the  child  grow  to  manhood  l)ut  by  time,  and  this  is  the 
fatality  I  aim  to  teach.  Tlicse  obvious  facts  may  bo 
granted,  and  yet  the  question  asked,  whether,  when 
such  inclination,  desire,  or  will  arises,  we  may  not  have 
resolution  to  resist  it,  by  a  counteracting  and  stronger 
will?    To  which  I  answer.  Certainly  wo  may,  if  a  stronger 

9 


94  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

will  should  arise  from  a  stronger  motive  not  to  obey  the 
command  than  to  obey  it.  Suppose,  for  instance,  a  man 
is  commanded  by  high  authority  to  do  a  certain  act.  Ho 
is,  at  once,  given  a  will,  by  the  command  so  to  do ;  but, 
as  in  cases  of  martyrdom,  if  a  silent  command  arises 
within  him,  from  a  belief  that  God's  command  is  greater 
than  that  of  man,  a  counteracting  and  paramount  will 
will  certainly  control  his  actions ;  and  now,  though  the 
first  command  was  from  without,  and  the  second  and 
prevailing  from  ruminating  causes  within,  they  were 
both  the  result  of  actually  existing  and  uncalled-for 
causes.  Yes;  causes  that  the  will  did  not  create.  Nor 
is  the  result  in  such  cases  any  more  obscure  or  difficult 
of  compi'ehension  than  the  testimony  which  forces  con- 
viction to  the  mind ;  the  will  to  do  or  not  to  do  being 
the  invariable  result  of  prompting  passions,  or  of  delib- 
erate judgment,  founded  upon  anticipated  results ;  in 
neither  of  which  cases  are  there  any  self-creations  of 
wills  without  causes — the  will  being  as  unavoidable  a 
result  as  was  the  cause,  both  being  as  firmly  linked 
together  as  is  the  endless  and  eternal  chain  that  binds 
God's  vast  and  harmonious  universe.  We  may  not  see 
or  feel  but  the  first,  second,  or  third  moving  link,  but, 
could  we  trace  them  back,  they  would  unerringly  lead  us 
on  and  on  to  the  throne  of  God — the  original  seat  and 
foundation  of  all  causality.  Here,  by  infinite  wisdom 
and  boundless  power,  were  all  God's  laws,  both  mental 
and  physical,  designed  and  irreversibly  fixed  beyond 
the  power  of  earthly  vanity  to  subvert. 

Thus  having  established  the  supremacy  of  God's  unal- 
terable laws,  all  we  have  to  do,  is  to  understand  and  obey 
them.  If  we  plant  and  jDray  to  God  to  cultivate  for  us, 
he  will  not  do  it;  and  should  we  plunge  ourselves  into 
the  ocean,  and  cry.  Lord  save?  he  will  not  heed  us,  nor 
will  he  even  administer  an  antidote  to  a  poison,  though 


WILL.  95 

ignorantly  and  innocently  taken.  Those  laws  of  our  vital 
and  normal  existence  are  fatally  fixed,  and  the  health  and 
happiness  of  man  depend  upon  studying  them  well,  a 
thing  least  thought  of  by  the  present  artistic  age,  when 
men  with  their  idle  hypotheses,  religious  creeds,  and 
jDolitical  squabbles  distract  the  human  mind.  To  these 
debasing  influences  over  the  mind  may  be  added  the 
stultifying  nature  of  dead  languages  and  unmeaning 
technicalities,  which  engross  all  the  early  and  more 
susceptible  portion  of  our  lives.  Were  we  to  study  well 
those  laws  to  which  we  are  hourly  subject  through  life, 
the  doctor  then  would  practice  upon  a  science,  and  we 
should  not  daily  bemourn  the  loss  of  our  friends,  butch- 
ered through  ignorance;  for  old  age  would,  as  certainly  as 
we  now  exist,  be  the  only  outlet  to  life;  for,  as  sure  as 
there  is  a  God,  there  is  a  law  of  hygiene  ample  for  every 
morbid  influence  that  can  assail  us.  The  wonderful 
discoveries  which  have  been  made  in  science,  as  the 
telegraph,  compass,  navigation  and  railroads,  for  instance, 
can  leave  no  longer  doubt  of  the  powerful  agencies  and 
counteracting  agencies  that  are  at  play  around  us  and  of 
which  we  are  wholly  ignorant.  In  proof  of  our  medical 
ignorance,  and  as  a  reproof  to  the  vanity  of  our  little 
technical  popinjays,  I  introduce  the  following  introduc- 
tory lecture  by  the  great  Magendie  of  France : 

"Gentlemen  :  Medicine  is  a  great  humbug.  I  know 
it  is  called  a  science.  Science,  indeed!  it  is  nothing  like 
science.  Doctors  are  more  empirics,  when  they  are  not 
charlatans.  Wo  are  as  ignorant  as  men  can  be.  Who 
knows  anytliing  in  the  world  about  medicine?  Gentle- 
men, you  have  done  mo  the  honor  to  come  here  to  attend 
my  lectures,  and  I  must  tell  you  frankly,  now,  in  the 
beginning,  that  I  know  nothing  in  the  world  about 
medicine,  and  I  don't  know  anybody  who  does  know 
anytliing  about   it.     Don't   think   for  a    nioment    tliat 


96  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

haven't  read  the  bills  advertising  the  course  of  lectures 
at  the  medical  school.     I  know  that  this  man  teaches 
anatomy,    that    man    teaches    pathology,    another   man 
physiology,  such-a-one  therapeutics,  such-another  materia 
medica.      Eh   bien!  et   apresf    What's   known  about   all 
that?     Why,  gentlemen,  at  the  school  of  Montpelier  (God 
knows  it  was  famous  enough  in  its  day !)  they  discarded 
the  study  of  anatomy,  and  taught  nothing  but  the  dispen- 
sary ;  and  the  doctors  educated  there  knew  just  as  much 
and  were  quite  as  successful  as  any  others.     I  repeat  it, 
nobody  knows  anything  about  medicine.     True  enough, 
we   are   gathering   facts   every   day.      We   can   produce 
typhus  fever,  for  example,  by  injecting  a  certain  sub- 
stance into  the  veins  of  a  dog — that's  something ;  we  can 
alleviate   diabetes  ;    and,   I   see   distinctly,  we    are    fast 
approaching  the  day  when  phthisis  can  be  cured  as  easily 
as  any  disease. 

"We  are  collecting  facts  in  the  right  spirit,  and  I  dare 
say,  in  a  century  or  so  the  accumulation  of  facts  may 
enable  our  successors  to  form  a  medical  science;  but,  I 
repeat  it  to  you,  there  is  no  such  thing  now  as  a  medical 
science.     Who  can  tell  me  how  to  cure  the  headache  ?  or 
the  gout?  or  disease  of  the  heart?    Nobody.     Oh!  you 
tell   me   doctors   cure  people.     I  grant  you  people   are 
cured.    But  how  are  they  cured?    Gentlemen,  nature  does 
a  great  deal.     Imagination  does  a  great  deal.     Doctors 
(Jo — devilish  little — when  they  do  n't  do  harm.     Let  me 
tell  you,  gentlemen,  what  I  did  when  I  was  head-physi- 
cian at  the  Hotel  Dieu.     Some  three  or  four  thousand 
patients  passed  through  my  hands  every  year.     I  divided 
the  patients  into  two  classes;   with  one  I  followed  the 
dispensary,  and  gave  them  the  usual  medicines,  without 
having  the  least  idea  why  or  wherefore;  to  the  other  I 
gave  bread-pills  and  colored  water,  without,  of  course^ 
letting  them  know  anything  about  it;  and  occasionally. 


WILL.  97 

gentlemen,  I  would  create  a  third  division,  to  whom  I 
gave  nothing  whatever.  These  last  would  fret  a  good 
deal — they  would  feel  they  were  neglected,  (sick  people 
always  feel  they  are  neglected,  unless  they  are  well 
drugged — les  imbeciles!)  and  they  would  irritate  them- 
selves until  they  got  really  sick;  but  nature  invariably 
came  to  the  rescue,  and  all  the  persons  in  the  third  class 
got  well.  There  was  a  little  mortality  among  those  who 
received  but  bread-pills  and  colored  water,  and  the 
mortality  was  greatest  among  those  who  were  carefully 
drugged  according  to  the  dispensary." 

Thus  spake  a  man  of  great  learning  and  world-wide 
fame  as  a  physician. 

And  were  divines  in  like  manner  to  become  thorough- 
bred students  of  nature,  instead  of  burthening  their 
minds  with  selfish  creeds  and  theological  follies,  they 
would  neither  respect  the  dogmas  of  men,  nor  glory 
longer  in  their  own  folly ;  no,  nor  could  those  detestable 
demagogues,  the  veriest  varlets  of  earth,  humbug  a 
community  thus  enlightened  by  the  elevating  and 
ennobling  study  of  God's  harmonious  and  glorious 
works,  that  will  unerringly  lead  us  to  health,  to  happi- 
ness, and  to  Him.  But  we  will  return  from  consequences 
and  examples  more  directly  to  the  argument,  and  show 
how  we  are  influenced  by  physical  causes  that  make  us 
happy  or  miserable  in  this  world. 

The  influence  of  disease  upon  the  mind  every  man  in 
community  has  both  seen  and  felt.  To  a  sick  man  the 
luxuries  of  life  lose  their  zest — nothing  tastes  or  smells 
pleasurable,  and  sights  and  sounds  are  disagreeable.  All 
his  feelings  are  as  whimsical  as  his  appetites.  The  brave 
man  becomes  timid,  and  the  imperturbable  and  generous 
soul  becomes  irritable  and  selfish.  The  patient  and 
aff"ectionato  mother  grows  fretful  and  captious  towards 
her  children.     Every  vocation  and  profession  in  life  loses 


98  THE   THUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP    MIND. 

its  interest,  and  our  resolutions  for  any  enterprise  become 
weak  and  capricious.  The  aberrated  mind  is  dark  and 
vacillating*  in  its  religious  and  moral  affections.  Even 
toothache,  gout  and  sick  headache  will  spoil  the  temj)er 
and  greatly  afflict  the  mind;  and  O!  how  often  do  we 
become  silently  demented  or  harrowed  up  to  raving 
maniacs,  while  others  sink  under  the  crushing  weight  of 
accumulating  afflictions  down  to  a  settled  and  hopeless 
melancholy.  Now,  if  these  afflictions  of  mind  be  unavoid- 
able and  incurable  by  the  will,  the  will  can  not  be  free  to 
control  itself  or  the  destinies  of  the  mind,  but  is  itself 
controlled  by  the  unavoidable  destinies  of  the  system. 

To  show  how  we  are  led  captive  through  the  dark  and 
checkered  paths  of  our  anxious  and  toiling  existence  here, 
not  by  the  power  of  disease,  as  above  named,  but  under 
the  guidance  of  natural  and  normal  influences,  I  will 
give  a  few  additional  examples.  Our  journey  of  life  is  at 
best  but  a  day,  and  affords  us  but  little  knowledge  of  the 
innumerable  and  wonderful  agencies  in  nature  that  play 
around  us,  and  in  which  and  through  which  we  uncon- 
ciously  live  and  move,  being  seduced  by  more  sensible 
objects  to  follow  our  veering  fancies.  We  set  out  in  the 
morning  of  life,  unconscious  of  guilt  and  fearless  of 
consequences;  the  whistle,  the  drum  and  hobby-horse, 
with  the  nightly  legends  of  the  nursery,  filling  our  cup 
of  innocent  and  early  joy.  Little  do  we  think  how  "one 
generation  passeth  and  another  generation  cometh,"  nor 
have  we  yet  any  knowledge  of  our  own  flitting  and 
transient  lives ;  but  on  we  journey,  joyously  picking  up 
by  the  way  the  early  flowers,  and  chasing  the  butterfly 
with  his  gilded  wings,  which  gives  us  more  rational 
delight  than  a  monarch  can  receive  from  the  temjioral 
bauble  of  a  jeweled  crown.  Charmed  with  every  chang- 
ing scene  of  nature,  we  are  led  through  flowery  lawns,  by 
purling  brooks,  and  into  fragrant  and  warbling  groves 


WILL.  99 

where  our  enchanted  minds  are  lulled  into  elysian 
reveries,  and  our  thoughts  elevated  far  above  the  vulgar 
realities  of  life,  not  dreaming  that  soon  we  shall  enter 
the  dark  and  dreary  abodes  of  sorrow,  where  we 
are  to  be  afflicted  by  cares  and  torn  by  contending 
passions.  Fresh  in  youth,  buoyant  in  health,  and 
animated  by  the  hope  of  future  bliss,  we  still  pursue  our 
unclouded  path,  nor  think  we  are  so  near  the  ti'oubled 
ocean  of  life  and  the  vale  of  tears.  All  has  been  serenity 
and  sunshine ;  but  now  the  noon  of  our  day  has  come 
with  a  clouded  sky,  and  the  troubled  elements  are 
w^arring  around  us.  The  day  is  far  spent  in  the  toj^s  of 
life,  and  the  unwelcome  fact  is  forced  upon  us,  that  we 
have  a  living  to  make;  and  now  it  is  that  pride 
and  ambition  enters  the  unstained  and  tranquil  soul. 
The  tumults  of  life  now  begin ;  and  hope  and  fear,  love 
and  hatred,  and  joy  and  grief,  with  all  the  distracting 
passions,  alternately  occupy  the  soul,  and  imperiously 
direct  the  will  to  this,  that  or  the  other  act. 

As  the  evening  of  our  journey  apj)roaches,  circum- 
stances again  change  and  throw  us  upon  a  smoother 
path.  The  stimulus  of  ambition  is  gone,  and  the  heart 
grows  cold  to  the  world.  The  lengthened  vista  is  closing 
upon  our  sight,  and  the  memory  of  the  past  is  fost  fiiding. 
Our  hearts  beat  faintly,  and  we  feel  that  every  pulsation 
brings  us  one  step  nearer  to  the  brink  of  eternity,  when 
our  journey  will  be  at  an  end.  The  pleasures  of  early 
life  have  fled  forever,  and  we  worship  the  Lord  of  Nature 
no  longer  in  his  flowery  meads,  his  flowing  streams,  and 
shady  bowers ;  but  seek  him  in  a  higher  sphere,  far,  far 
beyond  the  confines  of  earth,  where  we  hope  for  a  happy 
haven  of  rest  when  our  stormy  voyage  shall  be  over. 
The  heart  that  once  glowed  with  love,  with  humanity, 
and  kind  art'ections,  has  been  left  but  to  sorrow.  Every 
tender  tie  on  earth  has  been  ])roken,  .'iinl  mir  CriendH  have 


100  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

passed  to  worlds  unknown.  The  lone  and  feeble  soul  has 
now  no  consolation  but  in  religion,  when  it  again  becomes 
firm,  tranquil,  and  buoyant  in  its  glorious  hoj)es,  which 
warms  it  with  seraph  fire  and  wings  it  for  its  eternal 
flight. 

Now  all  these  vacillations  of  mind  and  workings  of  will 
to  suit  the  occasion  must  have  been  from  the  progress  of 
age,  and  the  power  of  circumstances ;  farther  showing, 
what  I  think  has  been  already  amply  proven,  that  the 
will  is  governed  by  circumstances,  and,  consequently, 
under  the  law  of  necessity;  which  is  not  an  accident, 
or  broken  link  in  the  chain  of  causality,  but  a  fixed 
and  unalterable  law  given  by  God  himself  to  preserve 
the  unity  and  harmony  of  his  universal  dependencies 
upon  the  one  Great  "Will. 


AXIOMS.  101 


AXIOMS 


Now,  by  way  of  recapitulation,  I  set  down  the  following 
axioms  as  undeniable : 

1.  That  there  is  no  omnipotence  in  the  universe  save 
God  himself;  nor  is  there  anything  which  has  a  self- 
creating  and  self-controlling  power,  cither  of  mind  or 
of  body. 

2.  That  all  things,  mind  and  body,  are  dualistic  and 
dynamic — no  one  atom  acting  upon  itself,  but  acting 
upon  every  other  atom ;  no  one  thing  having  the  power 
of  giving  itself  motion,  but  is  dependent  upon  the  great 
and  universal  law  of  dualism. 

3.  That  there  is  no  such  thing  as  innate  ideas,  and, 
as  the  mind  can  neither  create  itself  nor  ideas  within 
itself,  it  is  dependent  upon  the  objects  of  sense  for  all  its 
original  ideas.  Gold  begets  the  idea  of  gold,  and  lead  of 
lead;  and  so  with  all  other  things,  each  and  every  one 
creating  a  knowledge  in  the  mind  of  its  own  inherent 
nature — the  mind  having  no  power  of  rejecting,  alter- 
ing, or  converting  one  into  the  other.  Hence  the  mind 
has  none  of  those  powers  and  faculties  given  it  by 
authors ;  but  is  simply  a  submissive  subject,  not  with  a 
power  (which  is  a  false  term)  but  a  capacity  of  receiv- 
ing impressions. 

4.  That  neither  God  nor  angels  are  resident  in  the 
mind  (as  almost  all  authors  teach)  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  iiH  our  ideas  and    siiiTing  up    thoiiglil  ;    l)ul   that 

Id 


102  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

all  our  thoughts  recur  by  association  with  external 
objects,  or  by  functional  influences  within  the  system 
itself.  For  instance,  I  never  taste  or  smell  an  orange 
but  what  it  carries  mo  instantly  into  the  tropics,  and 
brings  to  mind  all  the  scenes  of  a  long  travel  —  this 
being  one  amongst  millions  of  external  causes  of  reflect- 
ive thought. 

"  Lulled  in  tlio  countless  chambers  of  the  brain, 
Our  thoughts  are  linkoJ  by  many  a  hidden  chain. 
Awake  but  one,  and  lo,  what  myriads  rise; 
Each  stamps  its  image  as  the  other  flies." 

"  How  soft  the  music  of  those  village  bells, 

Falling  at  intervals  upon  the  car  ; 
With  easy  force  it  opens  all  the  cells 

Where  memory  slept  ;  where  I  have  heard 
A  kindred  melody,  the  same  recurs, 

And  with  it  all  its  pleasures  and  Its  pains." 

A  large  portion  of  our  recurring  thoughts,  however,  are 
from  internal  causes,  exclusive  of  dreams ;  a  knowledge  of 
which  fact  would  have  spoiled  many  a  transcendental  and 
beautiful  theory,  and  have  curtailed  thousands  of  volumes 
on  the  subject  of  mental  philosophy.  As  ludicrous  as  it 
appears  to  me,  and  as  degrading  as  it  certainly  is  to  Grod, 
all  the  most  celebrated  authors  of  the  world,  as  I  have 
said,  have  maintained  a  direct  divine  influence  over  our 
inward  thoughts :  so  that  when  griped  or  troubled  with 
unpleasant  thoughts,  we  must  infer  that  Satan  had  ex- 
pelled God  and  taken  up  his  residence  in  the  bowels ;  to 
this  certainly  the  mystic  doctrine  would  lead  us. 

5.  That  neither  mind  nor  body  has  any  more  power 
over  their  existence  than  they  had  in  bringing  them- 
selves into  existence — being  firmly  bound  by  the  laws' 
of  their  unavoidable  nature.  Man  is  sustained  from  his 
birth  to  his  death,  not  by  a  wish,  or  will,  or  nothing 
(take  notice)  but  by  his  food  and  his  vitalizing  powers, 
over  which  he  has  no  more  control  than  has  the  grain 


AXIOMS.  103 

of  wheat  or  corn  over  the  laws  that  force  them  into 
existence  and  make  them  what  they  are.  All  existence 
and  motion  are  forced  states  —  nothing  creating  itself, 
nothing  sustaining  or  moving  itself;  but  all  are  dualistic 
and  dynamic  dciDendencies.  All  the  reader  has  to  do  to 
get  rid  of  such  astounding  folly  as  now  taught  on  mind, 
is  to  constantly  exercise  his  own  mind,  and  see  where 
this  thought,  that,  and  the  other  comes  from.  Think, 
also,  how  mind  is  led  astray  by  credulity,  and  that  the 
more  absurd,  monstrous,  and  cruel  the  creed,  the  firmer 
the  faith — as  will  be  seen  by  more  than  one  half  of  our 
race  being  at  this  moment  chained  down  tosuch  faith; 
yes,  a  faith  that  leads  them  by  thousands  to  mai'tjo-dom. 
I  say,  and  say  again  and  again,  read  the  history  of  man, 
both  sacred  and  profane,  from  the  earliest  records,  and 
see  the  eternal  vacillation,  both  of  governments  and 
of  religion,  and  you  will  know  more  of  the  real  nature 
of  mind  than  any  and  all  authors  who  have  ever  written 
on  the  mind.  Eead  the  history  of  Greece  and  Eome 
alone,  and  you  will  find  that  wiser  heads  than  ours 
worshiped  the  most  wicked  and  degrading  gods  and 
goddesses  that  ever  polluted  earth.  Nor  did  any  dare 
doubt  but  the  divine  Socrates — who  was  j)ut  to  death 
for  his  infidelity.  Yes ;  I  repeat  it,  that  you  will,  after 
thus  gaining  a  practical  knowledge  of  man,  agree  with 
me,  that  the  time  is  coming  when  every  book  on  earth  on 
psychology  will  be  thrown  away  like  trash,  as  the  books 
on  heathen  mythology  have  been. 

Sir  "William  Hamilton,  at  the  close  of  his  groat  book, 
with  just  humility,  says,  that  "All  of  our  philosophy  is 
ignorance — we  start  from  one  ignorance  and  repose  in 
another.  They  are  goals  from  which  and  to  which  we 
tend ;  and  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  is  but  a  course 
between  two  ignorances,  as  human  life  is  itself  only  a 
traveling  from   gravt;   to  grave."      And   again:    "All   vvc 


104  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

know  in  but  to  know  that  all  our  knowledge  in  but  a 
learned  ignorance,  and  that  true  wisdom  is  to  know 
that  we  know  nothing."  He  is  right;  for  what  we 
know  is  nothing  to  what  is  unknown,  and  the  propor- 
tion of  the  finite  mind  to  the  infinite  is  as  one  inch  to 
unlimited  space,  and  as  a  moment  to  eternity.  The 
highest  grade  of  knowledge,  and  the  greatest  mark  of 
wisdom,  therefore,  is  the  knowledge  of  our  ignorance, 
and  of  our  helpless  condition  in  this  our  momentary 
existence.  And  here,  for  the  sake  of  the  conceited 
clergy  in  mystic  things,  I  quote  what  St.  Chrysostom 
says :  "  Nothing  is  wiser  than  ignorance  in  these  matters 
(mystic  theology)  where  they  who  proclaim  that  they 
know  nothing  proclaim  their  paramount  wisdom;  while 
those  who  busy  themselves  therein  are  the  most  senseless 
of  mankind."  These  things  I  quote  and  proclaim  to 
give  to  man  a  crushing  knowledge  of  what  he  is — a  flit- 
ting, fated  shadow,  that  hangs  upon  the  dial's  point  but 
for  a  moment,  and  is  gone  forever. 

6.  That  neither  God  nor  man  created  themselves,  or 
gave  themselves  their  nature;  nor  can  they  alter  that 
nature — the  principles  inherent  in  the  eternal  Godhead 
constituting  the  law  by  which  he  is  bound.  His  pi'omul- 
gated  laws,  therefore,  are  necessarily  founded  upon  them, 
and  hence  it  is  that  virtue  has  an  anterior  and  paramount 
rightness,  in  itself  independent  of  the  will  of  God.  It  is 
acknowledged  by  Clark,  Scott,  Chalmers,  Dick,  Douay, 
and  all  other  intelligent  divines,  that  God  did  not  promul- 
gate his  law  from  any  self-willed  or  arbitrary  view;  but 
it  was  called  forth  by  necessity  from  the  prior  existence 
and  inherent  nature  and  fitness  of  things  themselves.  It 
is  also  granted  that  the  holy  angels  are  so  conformed  in 
their  nature  that  they  can  not  act  contrary  to  that  nature ; 
showing  an  unbroken  chain,  reaching  from  eternity  to 
eteniily,  and   (Voni  (uir'th  to  licaveii,  l>iii(liiig  God,  angels, 


AXIOMS.  1U5 

and  men  to  abide  their  nature.  This  eternal,  irrevocable, 
and  universal  law  of  divine  harmony  and  consistency  is 
what  I  have  been  aiming  to  teach. 

7.  That  the  doctrine  of  self-creating  power  leads  to 
atheism ;  for  if  God  be  not  the  creator  and  governor  of 
all  things,  then  may  all  things  create  and  govern  them- 
selves, as  Pantheists  affirm. 

8.  That  God  fits  means  to  ends,  and,  comprehending 
all  things  from  eternity  to  eternity  in  one  most  perfect 
and  unaltei'able  view,  his  foreknowledge  must  be  as 
unerring  as  man's  after-knowledge. 

9.  That  there  is  as  indissoluble  connection  between 
motive  and  action  as  between  cause  and  effect,  and  that 
all  things  in  God's  vast  and  harmonious  universe  are 
dependencies  upon  the  one  first  great  and  moving  Cause. 

10.  That  both  God  and  man  as  certainly  exist  under  a 
law  of  necessity  as  they  exist  in  time  and  space,  neither 
being  able  to  act  rationally  without  a  motive  in  view 
and  an  object  to  be  obtained,  which  motive  in  view 
and  object  to  be  obtained  must  be  the  ground  and  reason 
for  such  action. 

11.  That  the  inherent  qualities  of  objects  we  desire 
to  obtain  being  whollj^  separate  and  independent  of  the 
will,  the  will  is  certainly  bound  by  these  qualities,  and 
not  by  nothing,  as  free-willers  have  it. 

12.  That  an  effect  does  not  create  its  cause,  the  child 
its  father,  nor  the  will  its  motive ;  but  that  the  cause 
produces  its  effect,  the  father  his  child,  and  the  motive 
its  will,  as  certainly  as  that  sugar  creates  the  idea 
of  sweetness,  fire  of  heat,  and  ice  of  cold. 

13.  That  to  say,  because  we  act  from  our  unavoidable 
nature  and  the  force  of  circumstances  under  which  we 
are  placed,  that  our  lovely  acts  are  not  to  bo  loved, 
nor  our  hateful  acts  hated,  is  a  false  position  ;  when  all 
Avill   acknowledge  that  God,   in   his  unavoidable  natui'e 


\ 


100  THE   TRUE   PIIILOSOniY    OP    MIND. 

is  absolutely  perfect,  pure  and  holy,  and  yet  we  adore 
him  because  of  those  natural  perfections.  The  angels 
are  in  their  nature  so  confirmed  in  holiness  that  they  can 
have  no  will  to  do  wrong,  and  yet  we  glorify  them. 
Christ  fulfilled  the  will  of  the  Father  in  his  preconceived 
and  determined  plans  of  redemption,  but  we  love  him 
none  the  less.  "We  love  an  infant  that  can  not  help 
but  be  an  infant,  and  we  hate  a  snake  that  can  not  help 
its  nature ;  we  kill  rats  because  they  are  rats  by  the  will 
of  their  Maker;  and  there  are  hundreds  of  other  exam- 
ples I  could  give. 

14.  That  no  man  can  help  his  honest  belief,  and  con- 
sequently there  is  neither  merit  nor  demerit  in  faith, 
for  where  the  merit  in  believing  that  two  and  two 
make  four,  or  the  demerit  in  disbelieving  that  two  and 
two  make  ten  ? 

15.  That  there  is  no  man  on  earth  who  is  a  wilfull* 
disbeliever  in  religion ;  for  as  the  whole  pursuit  of 
man,  from  his  cradle  to  his  grave,  is  that  of  happiness, 
he  can  not  knowingly  seek  misery  in  a  doubt  of  future 
bliss,  and  thus  live  in  hopeless  despair  and  misery,  an 
active  and  conscious  hell  being  preferable  to  an  uncon- 
scious and  eternal  oblivion. 

16.  That  in  every  act  of  volition  an  object  of  choice 
or  desire  must  be  presented  to  the  mind ;  and  that, 
inasmuch  as  the  quality  or  exciting  nature  of  that  object 
begets  the  will,  such  will  can  not  be  self-begotten  and 
independent  of  all  motives  and  ends. 

17.  That  if  there  could  be  such  a  thing  as  a  motiveless 
will,  it  would  be  perfectly  worthless,  as  having  no  object 
of  good  or  evil  in  view,  and  consequently  irresponsible 
for  its  acts. 

18.  That  as  the  mind  has  no  alternative  but  to  choose 
or  refuse,  it  will  as  certainly  yield  to  the  stronger  motive, 
be  it  for  good  or  evil,  as  will  the  weaker  force  yield  to 
the  stronger,  or  the  heavier  weight  cast  the  scale. 


AXIOMS.  107 

19.  That  to  say  we  will  do  things  we  do  not  desire 
or  wish  to  do,  is  an  obvious  error.  For  instance,  we 
willingly  submit  to  the  surgeon  to  have  a  limb  taken 
oflF,  and  may  say  we  do  not  desire  or  wish  to  lose  that 
limb,  when  it  will  be  found  that  the  desire,  wish  and  will 
all  agree  to  have  the  limb  taken  off.  A  nauseous  draught 
of  medicine,  and  thousands  of  other  examples  could  be 
given  wherein  we  are  perplexed  and  deceived  in  regard 
to  the  nature  of  will — willing  often  to  do  what  we  would 
not  do  if  we  could  help  it. 

20.  That  there  may  be  ten  thousand  conflicting 
emotions  and  passions  of  mind,  drawing  this  way,  that 
way  and  the  other  ;  as  love  and  hatred,  wright  and  wrong, 
loss  and  gain,  obligation,  gratitude,  and  so  on  ;  but  the 
volition  in  the  end  will  be  decided  by  the  character  of 
the  man  ;  if  naturally  sordid,  gain  will  be  the  prompting 
motive ;  if  high  passioned,  hati'ed  and  revenge  will 
decide ;  when,  if  religious  and  conscientious,  love  and 
gratitude,  truth  and  justice,  will  prevail. 

21.  That  the  will  does  not  create  the  motive,  but  the 
motive  creates  the  will,  proving  the  will  to  be  an  effect, 
and  not  a  free  cause. 

22.  That  if  we  put  our  hand  in  the  fire  there  is  an 
instantaneous  will  to  take  it  out,  which  will  did  not 
create  the  fire,  but  the  fire  created  the  will ;  and  so  it 
must  be  in  every  act  of  life,  some  pleasure  or  pain, 
and  consequent  desire  or  aversion  to  do  or  not  to  do. 

23.  That  God  as  well  as  man  is  governed  by  circum- 
stances ;  circumstances  gave  him  a  will  to  turn  Adam  out 
of  Paradise;  circumstances  again  created  a  motive,  and 
that  motive  a  will  to  destroy  the  world  by  a  flood ; 
circumstances  determined  In  in  to  destroy  Nineveli,  and 
a  change  of  circumstances  determined  him  to  save  it ; 
circumstances  brought  Christ  into  the  world  for  the 
redeniplioii  of  man,  and   his  wliole  life    was  a  scene  of 


108  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

action  from  circumstances  ;  circumstances  of  thirty  pieces 
of  silver  gave  a  will  to  Judas  to  betray  his  Master,  and 
a  change  of  circumstances  (remorse)  gave  him  a  will 
to  go  out  and  hang  himself. 

24.  That  so  long  as  the  will  can  not  make  pain  pleasure 
and  pleasure  pain,  it  will  remain  subject  to  those  feelings, 
and  to  the  passions  and  emotions  of  mind,  which  passions, 
emotions,  and  feelings  are  not  produced  by  the  mind  itself, 
but  by  things  that  oiDcrate  upon  the  mind. 

25.  That  the  alternative  and  imperious  law  of  will  to 
do  or  not  to  do,  seals  the  fate  of  man. 

26.  That  as  we  can  not  like  what  we  do  not  like,  and 
the  will  being  dependent  upon  our  likes  and  dislikes,  it  is 
not  a  creator  or  originator,  but  a  submissive  result. 

27.  That  if  will  arise  from  a  sense  of  honor,  gratitude, 
obligation,  love,  hatred,  or  revenge,  it  is  nothing  but  a 
result;  and  if,  from  reason,  judgment,  or  any  other  cause, 
it  is  not  itself  a  cause  but  an  effect,  as  I  constantly 
repeat  it. 

28.  That  conscience  is  simply  a  conviction  or  belief — a 
creature  of  education,  and  not  the  same  in  any  two 
countries  or  in  any  two  men.  Aristotle  condemned  the 
poor  African  to  slavery  by  a  single  syllogism,  thus: 
"Black  people  were  made  by  God  for  slaves;  the  Africans 
are  black  ;  therefore  intended  by  Grod  to  be  slaves."  Thus 
did  the  Eev.  John  Newton,  of  England,  and  many  others, 
get  a  conscience  (as  he  himself  has  said)  to  engage  in  the 
trade ;  but  by-and-by  did  another  vagabond  conscience 
(right  by  chance  this  time)  tell  him  that  his  other 
conscience  was  a  wicked  and  evil  deceiver,  and  then 
did  this  truly  conscientious  and  jiious  man  eschew  and 
give  up  his  vocation. 

29.  That  the  whole  science  of  mind  is  in  a  single 
sentence,  thus:  Grod  has  endowed  us  with  feelings  of 
pleasure  and  pain,  from  which  arise  desire  and  avei'sion ; 


AXIOMS.  luy 

and,  consequently,  a  will  to  do  or  not  to  do ;  and  this,  as 
short  and  simple  as  it  is,  is  actually  the  desideratum  and 
ultimatum  of  mind.     Yes,  it  is   positively  the  whole  of 
psychology   worth   knowing,   upon   which  thousands  of 
books  have  been  written. 

30.  That  to  say  man  has  a  veto  power  over  the  will  of 
God,  or  that  he  can  in  any  way  disappoint  or  fret  him, 
is  a  sacrilegious  vaunt;  for  if  so,  God  would,  as  Dr. 
Scott  says,  "  have  fretted  himself  to  death  long  since." 
God,  as  I  have  said,  seeing  all  things  in  one  perfect  whole, 
from  beginning  to  end,  and  fitting  means  to  ends  with 
laws  to  govern  them,  it  can  not  be  that  any  unseen  power 
in  heaven,  hell,  or  earth  can  disappoint  him  in  the  final 
issue — otherwise  God  is  destitute  of  wisdom,  foreknowl- 
edge and  power. 

31.  That  the  mystic  system  of  psychology  and  theology 
have  distracted  and  corrupted  the  world,  abstracted 
science,  and  rendered  no  practical  advantage  to  man  in 
his  struggles  after  truth  and  a  just  rule  of  moral  rectitude 
and  brotherly  union.  After  thousands  of  years'  teaching, 
and  the  expenditure  of  myriads  of  money,  what  is  our 
condition  ?  No  honest  man  will  deny  that  we  live  in  an 
age  of  impiety  and  of  reckless  extravagance  and  lawless 
ambition.  To  look  around  and  see  the  sordid  grasp  of 
the  trafficking  world;  how  neighbor  strives  to  overreach 
neighbor,  and  brother  to  cheat  bi'other,  and  glory  in  his 
shame,  I  see  a  Avrong,  a  sad  and  grievous  wrong  ;  yes,  a 
wrong  that  my  pen  can  not  wrong,  and  that  Satan  him- 
self, the  fatlicr  of  wrong,  can  not  but  detest  as  a  wrong 
in  the  education  and  training  of  man.  Besides,  we  read 
but  little  else  in  our  daily  news  but  cruel  wars,  from 
combined  powers  down  to  fillibustering  and  ])lundering 
parties.  The  bloody  dagger  and  the  burglar's  liand  are 
rife  in  tlieir  midiiiglit  deeds,  while  forgeries,  defalcations, 
and  dcbiiuclieries,  IVoiii  (lie  sacred  precincts  of  divinity  and 


110  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

the  high  functionaries  of  government,  down  to  the  street 
scavenger,  have  become  common.  The  vicegerents  of 
God  and  holy  teachers  themselves  become  the  inflamers 
of  war,  and  join  in  the  struggles  of  political  mobs  and 
the  embroiling  elements  of  human  strife.  No  repentance 
in  sack-cloth  and  ashes,  but  in  fine  linen,  fine  cloth ;  while 
the  brainless  devotee  of  fashion  becomes  almighty  over 
the  minds  of  men,  and  as  well  might  the  friend  to 
humanity  attempt  the  stay  of  time  as  the  march  of 
fashion.  As  arise  those  delusive  lights  from  the  beds  of 
physical  decay,  that  but  involve  their  followers  in  bewil- 
dering mazes,  so  from  the  hot-beds  of  moral  corruption 
and  depravity  may  arise  in  Paris  a  glare  of  fashion  that 
catches  the  eye  of  the  vain  and  giddy  world.  Princes 
and  peasants  bow  alike  to  its  mandates,  and  countless 
millions  are  paid  for  its  formula.  The  veriest  varlet  in  a 
prescribed  and  artistic  garb  receives  more  attention  from 
the  fashionable  world  than  a  Howard,  a  man  of  the 
finest  attainments ;  while  the  giddy  whirls  and  amorous 
wiles  of  the  ball-room  hold  an  unquestionable  supremacy 
over  moral  worth  and  modest  mien.  Books  of  science 
and  moral  teaching  meet  with  no  encouragement,  while 
works  of  fiction,  that  feed  only  the  degenerate  and  sensual 
passions  of  the  day,  are  devoured  as  they  issue  from  the 
press.  Those  who  do  not  fall  under  the  dominion  of 
fools  of  fashion  are  led  captive  by  juggling  priests  and 
knavish  demagogues.  By  sermons  in  Latin,  and  tricks  of 
hocus-pocus,  men  are  brought  with  their  tithes  to  the  feet 
of  their  leaders,  while  women  are  led  as  it  were  by  the 
hand  of  love  to  the  altar  of  confession !  The  snickering 
demasroerue,  too,  knows  well  how  to  bait  his  hooks  and  set 
his  snares.  He  smiles  with  compassion  upon  the  people, 
tells  them  of  the  oppression  and  wrong  of  party,  till  he  is 
soon  found  riding  on  the  car  of  state  and  enjoying  the 
gifts  of  popular  favor.     No  anecdote  too  low  and  loath- 


AXIOMS.  Ill 

some,  no  falsehood  too  gross  and  glaring  for  the  public 
taste.  The  prognosis  from  such  a  gangrenous  state  of 
the  body  politic  must  be  unfavorable,  yes,  fatal. 

Thus  have  I  shown  the  true  character  of  the  human 
mind. 

32.  That  if  man  can  see  himself  aright,  he  will  know 
that  he  is  but  a  fated  link  in  the  eternal  chain  of  causal- 
ity ;  that  all  things  originate  and  terminate  in  God,  who 
gave  the  first  impulse  to  life  and  motion,  and  who  holds 
firm  and  fast  the  two  ends  of  this  vast,  unbroken,  and 
eternal  chain,  that  binds  his  mighty  universe  in  one 
harmonious  whole  and  ceaseless  round. 

33.  That  all  things  are  held  in  subordination  to  the 
accomplishment  of  the  one  great  end  —  God's  precon- 
ceived plans  of  creation. 

34.  That  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God  forbid  the 
doctrine  that  he  has  made  anything  in  vain,  and  that, 
consequently,  he  has  not  regretted,  pined,  and  fretted  at 
his  own  work — as  we  weekly  hear  proclaimed  from  the 
pulpit. 

35.  That  all  things  bear  a  primary  and  kindred  rela- 
tion, and  are  means  and  ends  in  the  one  eternal  and 
irrevocable  design. 

3G.  That  God  has  not  given  the  power  of  self-creation 
to  any  being  on  earth,  nor  the  ability  of  counteracting 
and  disappointing  his  sovereign  will  in  the  realization 
of  his  first  and  final  object  of  creation.  It  is  the  princi- 
ples, then,  of  the  all -sufficiency  of  creative  power  and 
wisdom  which  I  aim  to  teach,  and  to  show  that  the 
doctrines  that  God  has  done  things  which  he  did  not 
purpose  to  do,  and  that  his  laws  do  not  act  in  harmony 
and  with  undeviating  fate,  arc  untrue, 

37.  That  the  free-wilier  has  never  given  an  argument 
to  sustain  his  dogma,  but  assumes  it,  and  proves  it  by 
a  mendacious  witness,  thus:    We  are  free,  because  our 


112  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

conscience  tells  us  we  are  free;  and  therefore  we  are 
free.  Yes;  thus,  and  thus  only,  is  the  freedom  of  the 
will  established,  and  the  whole  of  the  argument  and  refu- 
tation thrown  upon  the  necessarian,  who  finds  it  diffi- 
cult to  disprove  anything — no  matter  how  false — firmly 
grafted  upon  a  superstitious  and  bigoted  conscience. 
Socrates  himself  could  not  disprove  the  conscious  verac- 
ity of  heathen  mythology  (though  now  held  as  contempt- 
ibly false  and  ridiculous) ;  nor  can  all  the  missionaries 
on  earth  prove,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  faithful  in 
Buddhism,  that  it  is  a  false  religion. 

38.  That  if  the  mind  could  will  and  act  independent  of 
the  objects  and  ends  in  view  that  cause  us  to  will  and  act, 
we  should  not  halt,  hesitate,  and  reason  before  we  will 
and  act.  Freedom  of  will  must  lie  within  itself,  and 
not  depend  upon  exterior  or  extraneous  motives  and 
temptations  to  will  and  act. 

39.  That  motive  and  will  stand  in  the  same  relation 
of  predicate  and  consequent. 

40.  That  the  universal  law  of  inertia — which  requires 
a  moving  force  equal  to  the  object  to  be  moved — will 
forever  forbid  the  mind,  or  any  other  created  thing, 
from  acting  upon  or  moving  itself.  And  I  will  here 
say  that  it  ahvays  has,  and  ever  ivill,  forbid  the  discovery 
of  a  perpetual  motion. 

41.  That  a  choice  contrary  to  our  choice  is  no  choice, 
but  a  contradiction  in  terms ;  and  as  the  object  of  choice 
must  be  prior  to  the  choice,  there'  is  no  escape  from  the 
certainty  of  such  objects,  motives,  ends,  and  means  being 
the  cause  of  choice,  will,  and  action.  As  inevitable,  then, 
as  the  behest  of  Deity  is  the  fact  that,  without  an  object 
there  is  no  choice,  and,  without  a  choice,  no  will  or  act. 

42.  That  as  the  mind  can  not  desire  itself  within  itself 
or  act  upon  itself  to  acquire  its  wants  and  desires  without 
itself,  those  wants  and  desires  most  assuredly  lead   the 


AXIOMS.  113 

mind  to  its  choice,  will,  and  act  according  to  the  inhe- 
rent, essential,  and  eternal  nature  and  fitness  of  things. 

43.  That  as  the  mind  (as  in  part  above  shown)  can  not 
live  upon  itself,  and  every  necessary  of  its  existence,  as 
well  as  every  object  and  end  to  be  obtained  —  whether 
abstract,  concrete,  moral,  religious,  or  political  —  being 
not  the  mind,  but  things  desired  by  the  mind,  every  act 
of  the  mind  to  its  desired  end  is  as  determined  as  the 
irrevocable  mandates  of  Heaven. 

44.  That  the  mind  can  no  more  act  contrary  to  its 
laws — in  other  terms,  to  its  desires,  wills,  and  wants, 
than  a  stone  can  rise  up  (contrary  to  the  laws  of  gravita- 
tion);  and,  consequently,  that  the  examples  given  by 
free-will  -Ranters  prove  nothing  beyond  their  ignorance 
or  dishonesty.  The  willingness  of  Abraham  to  sacrifice 
his  son,  Isaac ;  Brutus  in  ordering  the  execution  of  his 
two  sons,  and  Virginius  in  driving  a  dagger  to  the  heart 
of  his  lovely  daughter,  is  no  proof  of  their  acting  counter 
to  their  ultimate  will  or  wish  so  to  do ;  and  no  event  could 
be  brought  forward  in  stronger  proof  of  the  irresistible 
nature  of  motive  upon  the  mind.  Abraham's  devout 
motive  to  obey  the  Lord  created  a  willingness  to  sacri- 
fice his  child.  The  patriotism  of  Brutus  begot  a  motive 
so  powerful  as  to  sacrifice  every  feeling  of  his  fond 
heart  for  the  good  of  his  country ;  while  Virginius, 
with  a  motive  to  save  his  daughter  from  pollution  and 
disgrace,  by  patrician  power,  slew  her.  So  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  above  cases  (brought  forward  tauntingly 
to  prove  that  we  can  act  contrary  to  our  wills  and  desires 
HO  to  do)  are  in  full  and  satisfactory  confirmation  of  the 
exact  reverse. 

45.  That  an  affirmative  answer  to  the  question,  whether 
a  strong  cup  of  tea  does  not  often  operate  upon  the  mind 
HO  as  to  kec))  it  awake  all  night?  at  once  solves  the  whole 
ciiigiii;!  «>(■  iniiiil      \'<>r  il  <:ii)  imt   In    lli:it  (lie  tniiid  (>|ic?';i(c'H 


114  THE   TRUE   rillLOSOl'HY    OF    MIND. 

upon  the  tea.  And  just  so  it  is  with  everything  that 
gives  the  mind  its  ideas,  thoughts,  pleasures  and  pains, 
wills  and  desires — the  mind  operating  upon  nothing,  as  I 
often,  and  again,  say;  but  everything  operating  upon  the 
mind,  just  as  medicine  operates  upon  the  body. 

46.  That  if  one  will  reflect  back  how  often  he  has 
moved  about  (changed  his  location,  as  well  as  vocation), 
he  will  find  a  motive  and  a  reason  for  it  all,  and  for  every 
other  act  of  his  life ;  and,  also,  that  as  neither  houses, 
lands,  nor  other  necessaries  of  life  were  in  the  mind  (but 
out  of  it,  and  things  desired  by  the  mind,)  he  will  know 
more  of  mind  than  all  the  authors  who  ever  wrote  on 
mind ;  for  they  acquire  knowledge,  not  of  nature  and 
the  objects  of  life,  but  from  the  closet  and  superstitious 
mysticism.  Yes ;  and  let  him  reflect  how  often  he  has 
reproached  himself  for  past  acts  of  loss  and  distress,  and 
say.  Well,  I  might  and  ought  to  have  acted  differently, 
and  now  I  do  and  ought  to  suff'or;  when  it  is  fatally 
true  that  he  at  the  time  acted  up  to  the  best  lights  then 
afforded  him.  Nor  is  it  probable  that  his  after  acts — 
with  all  his  powerful  will,  divine  dictator  (conscience), 
and  the  thousand  faculties  given  him — will  prove  any 
more  satisfactory. 

47.  That  the  horse  has  a  liberty  (like  man  and  every 
other  animal)  to  do  just  as  he  does  and  desires,  or  is 
pleased  to  do ;  that  is,  he  desires  and  acts  just  as  his 
nature,  his  training,  and  the  motives  presented  cause 
him  to  desire  and  act.  And  now,  if  the  acts  of  beasts 
do  not  make  God  the  author  of  wrong,  why  should  those 
of  man,  when  they  are  both  equally  bound  by  the  same 
laws  of  their  unavoidable  nature.  The  brute  does  wrong, 
in  our  opinion  (though  acting  under  the  will  of  their 
Maker),  and  we  punish  and  put  him  to  death  (just  as 
we  do  man)  ;  but  whether  God  will  punish  either  brute 
or  man  for  his  own   defects  (as  frce-willers  unwittingly 


AXIOMS.  115 

aflSrm  them  to  be)  we  know  not ;  but  arc  fully  assured 
that  he,  the  Maker,  Lawgiver,  and  Euler  over  all,  suffered 
no  sin  (mark  it)  in  his  estimation,  to  enter  the  world  ; 
otherwise,  having  a  j^erfect  foreknowledge  of  the  evil 
results  of  his  works,  willingly  permitted  the  curse  of 
sin  to  attend  his  works,  and  can  not,  therefore,  punish 
his  own  works.  We,  moreover,  believe  (yes,  know,  and 
can  not  help  but  know)  that  it  no  more  makes  God  the 
author  of  sin  to  use  one  man  as  an  instrument  to  kill 
another,  or  to  use  more  protracted,  painful,  and  distress- 
ing means  to  kill  men  —  as  fever,  rheumatism,  steam- 
boats, earthquakes,  famine,  pestilence,  and  war  —  by 
which  means  he  kills  men,  women,  and  children  en 
masse.  Why,  then,  so  foolishly  oppose  a  self-evident 
fact  in  science — an  unquestionable  law  of  God — by  our 
assertions  of  its  making  him  the  author  of  sin.  And 
now,  if  the  reader  will  reflect  here  upon  this  suggestion 
by  free-will  teachers,  he  will  find  that  it  charges  God 
with  sin  in  making  man,  and  everything  else  that  runs 
counter  to  our  interests,  passions,  prejudices,  and  con- 
tracted views  of  right  and  wrong.  Man  can  injure  man 
(as  other  works  of  God  do),  and  we  call  it  sinful ;  but 
he,  with  preconceived  wisdom,  having  made  things  as 
things  are,  has  not  been  disappointed  or  grieved  at  his 
own  work  (as  frec-willers  say)  ;  and,  consequently,  can 
not  pronounce  them  sinful,  or  look  with  approbation 
upon  those  who  do  so. 

49.  That  I  maintain  the  wisdom,  power  and  perfection 
of  Deity,  and  the  certainty  of  his  decrees;  no  casualties, 
no  powers  on  earth,  in  heaven  or  in  hell,  being  alloAved 
to  counteract  or  disappoint  him  of  his  will  and  wishes 
in  the  result  of  his  works;  while  the  free-wilier  robs 
him  of  his  wisdom,  foreknowledge,  :nid  power  to  carry 
out  his  first  and  final  designs,  and  giving  to  man,  a  thing 
created    ;itid   desiginil  b\-  TJod,  a   iiowci-   (<>  :ul   iiide])eiid- 


116  THE    TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

ontly  above  and  beyond  the  will  and  sanction  of  bis 
Maker. 

50.  That  free  will  and  casualism  leads  to  atheism ; 
for  if  God  is  not  the  unerring  creator  and  ruler  over 
all  things,  then  may  all  things  create  and  govern  them- 
selves, as  Atheists  and  Pantheists  affirm. 

"All  arc  but  parts  of  one  great  whole, 
Whose  body  matter  is,  and  God  the  sonl." 

That  is  to  say,  not  meaning  a  personal  God,  but  that  the 
universal,  essential,  and  eternal  laws  inherent  in  matter 
has  formed  all  things  as  they  are — the  nature  of  matter 
being  the  God  of  matter,  and  nothing  existing  in  the 
universe  but  matter.  There  is  a  vital  and  conservative 
law  of  adaptation  to  circumstances  attending  all  the 
forms  of  organism,  as  witnessed  in  the  renewal  of  our 
exhausted  minds  and  bodies,  the  mending  of  broken 
bones  and  the  healing  of  wounds,  the  influence  of  habit 
over  mind  and  body,  etc.  The  blind  fish,  found  in  the 
Mammoth  Cave  and  other  dark  streams,  is  a  striking 
instance  that  matter  has  a  law  of  its  own  which  conforms 
to  the  necessity  of  the  case.  The  progenitors  of  these 
fish  had  eyes,  but  their  descendants,  having  no  use  for 
eyes,  lost  them ;  but  a  few  generations  in  sunny  waters 
would  restore  them,  when  having  use  for  them.  And 
now  it  matters  not  whether  this  law  of  organism  which 
makes  all  things  what  they  are,  has  been  independently 
inherent  in  matter  from  all  eternity,  or  the  work  of 
an  individual  God  who  stamped  these  laws  upon  it,  for 
it  is  a  question  that  never  has,  nor  never  can,  in  the 
nature  of  things,  be  decided. 

51.  That  free-willers  are  very  inconsistent  in  con- 
stantly asking  the  question,  why  should  we  punish  man 
if  he  acts  unavoidably  from  his  nature,  his  education,  and 
his  circumstances  in  life,  that  urge  him  to  action  when 
teachers,  preachers,  and  book-builders  all  teach  that  the 


AXIOMS.  117 

brute  acts  like  man  from  the  nature  God  has  given  them, 
and  that  under  the  direct  sanction  and  will  of  their 
Maker,  and  yet  do  these  very  persons  not  only  punish 
the  brute,  but  often  put  them  to  death,  because  per- 
chance they  depredate  and  offend  us  just  as  man  does. 
Why  do  we  give  by  law  a  premium  for  killing  crows  and 
lay  a  fine  for  killing  vultures,  when  both  act  in  accor- 
dance with  the  nature  God  has  given  them  ?  Simply  be- 
cause one  interferes  with  us  and  the  other  does  not,  and 
if  they  ran  counter  to  the  will  of  God  he  would  change 
their  nature. 

52.  Let  any  one  notice  his  own  movements  from 
hour  to  hour,  and  he  will  find  that  most  of  them  arise 
from  functional  causes  that  are  never  at  rest.  The  heart 
never  sleeps,  the  lungs  never  sleep,  n^or  does  the  brain,  or 
any  other  organ  ever  sleep.  The  waters  are  never  still, 
the  air  is  never  still,  nor  is  the  earth  itself  ever  still ; 
motion,  all  motion,  dualism  and  dynamic,  is  the  order  of 
nature ;  nor  is  mind  any  exception  to  this  universal 
law  decreed  by  God  himself,  which  stamps  everything 
with  fate.  Our  endless  dreams,  with  the  acts  of  som- 
nambulism and  somniloquism,  should  convince  the  free- 
wilier  that  our  minds  are  stirred  to  action  by  our 
organism  alone,  without  the  aid  of  a  conscious  free- 
will. 

53.  That  writers  opposed  to  necessity,  having  aban- 
doned science  for  a  mere  proximate  feeling,  tauntingly 
affirm  that  we  do  as  we  please;  and  as  greater  liberty 
could  not  be  conceived  of,  which  is  a  seeming  something 
with  thoughtless  readers,  while  a  smattering  of  science 
will  at  once  see  there  is  nothing  in  it,  the  pi-cdicatc 
and  consequent  having  no  connection.  The  premise 
here  is  u!ideniable — that  we  do  as  we  please,  while  the 
conclusion  that  we  are  therefore  iVcu  is  false.  I  can 
prove  l)y  the  same   mode  of  logic  that  frec-w  ill   writers 

11 


118  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP    MIND. 

are  gecsc,  thus  :  Free-will  writers  are  animals,  and  geese 
are  animals  ;  therefore  free-will  writers  are  geese. 

True,  we  are  free  to  do  as  we  are  pleased,  but  that  is 
not  the  question  under  discussion.  It  is  this,  whether 
we  are  free  to  convert  pain  into  pleasure,  or  be  pleased 
with  what  we  are  not  pleased,  and  what  it  is  that  makes 
us  pleased?  Is  the  will  free  to  be  pleased  with  the  sensa- 
tion of  pain  when  our  hand  is  in  the  fire?  No.  Is  it  free 
to  be  pleased  with  the  loss  of  fortune  and  friends?  for  if 
not,  the  question  is  at  an  end.  And  now  I  ask  the  honest 
reader  to  say  whether  it  is  the  mind  that  gives  itself  the 
pleasure  to  do  or  not  to  do,  without  an  object  or  end  in 
view,  or  whether  it  is  not  objects  operating  upon  the  mind, 
and  something  desired  by  the  mind,  which  gives  it  a  plea- 
sure and  will  to  do  or  not  to  do  ?  Away,  then,  with  your 
chidings  of  free-will  and  a  power  to  do  what  we  are  pleased 
to  do,  when  pleasure  and  pain  are  the  result  of  fatal  laws 
and  events  beyond  our  control,  and  the  very  things  that 
create  a  pleasure,  desire,  or  will,  to  do  or  not  to  do,  just  as 
those  pleasures  and  pains  prompt  us.  If  this  hackneyed 
and  false  word,  as  here  applied,  had  been  called  force, 
simple  and  just  as  it  would  be,  it  would  have  cut  short 
hundreds  of  volumes  and  livings  for  thousands  of  writers, 
for  the  sentence  and  true  science  would  then  read  thus  : 
We  do  as  we  are  forced  to  do,  and  therefore  are  not  free; 
instead  of,  we  do  as  we  arc  pleased  to  do,  and  therefore 
free.  False  assumptions,  false  terms,  and  the  dexterous 
use  of  abstractions  and  refinings  have  given  to  psychology 
a  mystic  charm  and  artistic  beauty,  which,  having  been 
hallowed  by  time,  is  hard  for  the  untrained  in  the  true 
principles  of  science  to  resist;  and  preachers  and  teachers, 
heading  all  the  institutions  of  learning  in  the  world,  may 
find  it  to  their  interest  to  keep  up  the  old  artistic  and 
technical  system  of  psychology.  Many  more  exposures  of 
such  chicanery  and  quibble  might  bo  made,  but  I  must 


AXIOMS.  119 

think  the  reader  has,  by  this,  learned  enough  to  know 
why  it  is  that  more  than  two  thousand  years  of  preaching 
and  teaching  has  only  darkened  and  perplexed  the  science 
of  mind,  made  man  the  greatest  enemy  of  man,  and  ren- 
dered no  benefit  whatever  to  society".  Metaphysics  has 
in  past  ages  been  nothing  more  than  a  hodge-podge,  a 
pretentious  fabric,  made  up  of  words  without  meaning, 
distinctions  without  a  difference,  with  indefinable  and 
indeterminable  mysticisms,  neither  understood  by  the 
writer  nor  the  reader. 

53.  That  the  mind  can  not  make  sugar  sour  nor  vinegar 
sweet,  and,  consequently,  has  no  power  or  will  to  operate 
upon  things  and  make  them  what  they  are  not,  but  bound 
to  be  operated  upon  by  things  as  things  are. 

54.  That  instead  of  controlling  our  thoughts,  our  thoughts 
control  us ;  for  who  can  stop  his  thoughts,  change  his  con- 
victions of  mind,  or  make  painful  thoughts  pleasurable? 
Consequently,  that  pleasure  which  causes  the  will  to  do  or 
not  to  do  in  obedience  to  our  thoughts  and  convictions,  is 
beyond  our  power  and  control ;  hence  it  turns  oyit  that  the 
will  does  not  create  the  pleasure  so  much  harped  on  to  do 
or  not  to  do,  but  the  pleasure  creates  the  will  to  do  or  not 
to  do,  which  pleasure  did  not  create  itself,  but  was  in  turn 
the  result  of  our  unavoidable  convictions,  and  those  con- 
victions themselves  were  the  fatal  product  of  testimony 
forced  upon  the  mind.  Thus  all  illustrations  resolve  them- 
selves into  one — that  the  mind  creates  nothing,  can  operate 
upon  nothing;  but  is  operated  upon  by  all  things,  and  fated 
to  abide  things  as  things  are,  not  being  able  to  think  black 
white  or  white  black,  in  violation  of  the  fated  connection 
between  subject  and  object. 

55.  That  life  itself  is  a  life  of  necessity,  not  having 
created  itself,  but  being  forced  into  existence  by  a  Power 
anterior  to  and  beyond  itself,  and  being  dependent  upon 
the  necessaries  of  life  to  sustain  itself,  its  wants  become 


120  THE  TRUE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  MIND. 

urgent  and  innumerable.  If  in  want  of  means  and  a  sum 
of  money  be  illegally  presented,  our  unavoidable  organism 
and  education  will  be  tested.  If  by  nature  our  appetites 
be  strong  and  urgent  and  our  resistance  weak,  our  choice 
will  be  to  take  it;  when,  should  our  nature  be  the  reverse, 
and  our  moral  training  be  well  grounded,  our  choice  will 
be  to  refuse  it.  Now  in  this  is  involved  the  whole  science 
of  mind,  for  the  reader  must  at  once  see  that  we  have  no 
liberty  but  to  choose  or  refuse ;  and  from  our  choosing  and 
refusing  issue  all  the  acts  of  life.  Hence,  mark  it  here? 
that  to  choose  or  refuse,  from  which  there  is  no  escape,  is 
one  and  the  same,  in  regard  to  liberty — each  being  our 
choice,  which  choice  being  grounded  in  our  nature  and 
wants,  is  as  fated  as  time,  yes,  and  death  itself.  Thus  I 
grant  to  the  free-wilier,  we  do  as  we  please ;  but  that  plea- 
sure itself  which  causes  us  to  will  and  to  act,  is  an  effect, 
a  result,  yes,  an  inevitable  result,  emerging  from  life  itself, 
and  that  tendency  interwoven  into  our  very  existence  and 
the  irrevocable  nature  of  things  decreed  by  Deity  from  the 
beginning*of  the  world.  Reflect  for  a  moment,  and  you 
will  see  we  are  bound,  yes,  fated  to  believe  or  disbelieve, 
be  pleased  or  disjjleased ;  from  which  proceed  all  our  acts, 
and  where  then  the  liberty  of  mind  any  more  than  the 
liberty  of  body?  The  stomach  digests  as  it  does,  the 
blood  circulates  as  it  does,  a  rook  returns  to  earth  when 
thrown  up,  and  water  runs  down  just  as  it  is  jsleased 
(inclined)  and  made  to  run  down  by  the  fated  laws  of 
gravitation. 

In  recurring  to  the  oft-asked  question,  whether  a  sec- 
ond will  got  up  of  ourselves  may  not  counteract  a 
first  will  prompted  by  other  causes,  I  answer,  as  I  before 
did,  that  a  second  will  may,  if  the  stronger,  as  certainly 
counteract  the  first  as  the  stronger  power  will  overcome 
the  weaker,  or  the  heavier  weight  cast  the  scale ;  but  mark 
it,  the  stronger  will   is  got  up  by  the  stronger  motive. 


AXIOMS.  121 

which  motive  the  mind  did  not  nor  can  not  create;  it 
being  out  of  and  independent  of  the  mind,  and  simjjly  an 
object  and  end  desired  by  the  mind.  For  instance,  an 
owner  puts  a  horse  up  at  auction  and  a  bid  comes  to  his 
full  jirice  or  value,  such  bid  creates  in  his  mind  a  will  to 
take  it,  but  a  second  bid  says  ten  dollars  better.  O  how 
quickly  is  the  first  will  overcome  by  the  second,  and  so 
on  and  on  to  the  end.  But  none  of  those  bids  or  motives 
were  gotten  up  by  the  mind  itself,  as  free-willers  would 
have  it,  but  came  from  without,  and  acting  upon  the  mind, 
made  the  mind  do  just  as  it  pleased.  Again,  suppose 
a  man  resolves  upon  the  death  of  another,  through  re- 
venge or  otherwise,  and  starts  to  commit  the  deed,  but 
on  the  way  a  fear  (not  from  nothing  or  self-produced) 
comes  over  his  mind  of  detection,  and  a  punishment  here 
and  hereafter.  He  hesitates  and  stops,  the  two  wills  now 
being  in  equipoised  conflict;  but  by-and-by  the  second 
will  prevails,  and  his  legs  are  at  once  commanded  to  take 
bim  back.  Where  the  difference  I,  in  turn,  ask,  in  the  two 
wills  in  regard  to  freedom,  the  first  being  created  by  the 
passion  of  revenge,  .and  the  second  and  prevailing  will 
by  a  fear  of  punishment,  and  not  from  nothing,  or  a  self- 
created  nothing.  As  before  made  known,  there  is  nothing 
which  can  create  itself,  live  within  itself,  or  upon  itself, 
but  is  dependent  upon  objects  and  agencies  without  itself 
The  mighty  oak,  deeply  rooted,  does  not  gi'ow  itself,  but 
is  grown  by  elements  without  itself:  nor  is  the  mind  any 
exception  to  this  universal  law  of  dualistn,  not  being  able 
to  grow  itself,  create  ideas  within  itself,  or  make  some- 
thing out  of  nothing.  Every  idea  must  have  its  repre- 
sentative that  begets  it,  every  will  its  object,  and  every 
child  its  father.  This  is  fate,  a  fixed  and  determined  law 
of  organism,  and  of  all  things  short  of  God  himself,  the 
only  Creator  and  Primuni  Mobile  of  the  aggregate  universe. 
And  now  in  closing  this  essay  I  beg  the  reader's  utten- 


122  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP    MIND. 

tion  to  the  fact  that  all  mankind  arc  governed  by  their 
opinions  or  convictions,  which  convictions  are  not  by 
the  will,  but  from  testimony,  and  that  testimony  being 
the  result  of  time,  of  natural  mind,  of  credulity  or  incre- 
dulity, of  location  and  association,  intelligence,  acute  or 
dull  sensibility,  and  a  thousand  hidden  causes,  conse- 
quently not  voluntary,  but  an  unavoidable  result  which 
gives  to  each  man  his  separate  opinion,  no  two  on  earth 
thinking  exactly  alike.  Had  this  fact  been  known  in 
past  ages  it  certainly  would  have  made  men  more  broth- 
erly and  saved  millions  of  lives  from  intolerance  and  per- 
secution. If  Michael  Servetus,  John  Rogers,  and  thou- 
sands of  others  could  have  changed  convictions  of  soul  by 
a  mere  act  of  will,  they  might  have  saved  themselves  from 
the  dreadful  death  at  the  stake.  More  than  one  hundred 
thousand  of  our  fellow-mortals  are  now  annually  sacrific- 
ing their  lives  upon  the  altar  of  their  honest  convictions 
of  religious  right  fatally  fixed  upon  them  by  the  country 
in  which  their  lot  has  been  cast,  and  the  education  there 
received. 

56.  That  God,  being  absolutely  perfect  in  his  uncreated, 
underived,  immutable,  eternal,  and  unavoidable  nature, 
every  motive  to  action  must  be  for  the  best,  and  that  there 
is  not,  therefore,  any  evil  in  God's  universe,  but  that  all 
apparent  evils  are  dispensations  of  mercy,  and  end  in 
universal  good.  He,  who  maintains  an  all-wise,  all-pow- 
erful, and  good  God,  can  not  but  grant  this  doctrine  of 
optimism,  which  afiirms  that  all  things  are  wisely  ordered, 
and  ordered  for  the  best. 

57.  That  to  say  that  God's  prescience  is  perfect  and 
infallible,  and  yet,  that  the  connecting  links  of  causality, 
or  laws  by  which  events  are  to  be  brought  about,  arc 
fallible,  or,  in  other  words,  fortuitous  and  uncertain,  is 
ridiculously  absurd,  for  God  himself  can  "not  see  the 
evidence  of  a  thing,  which  in  itself  has  no  evidence  or 
antecedent  cause  of  existence. 


SENSATION.  123 

58.  That  it  is  impossible  for  Grod  himself  to  know  a 
contingence ;  as  to  do  so,  would  be  the  same  as  to  know  a 
thing  to  be  certain,  which,  at  the  same  time,  he  knows  to 
be  uncertain,  involving  the  absurd  idea  and  impossibility 
of  to  be  and  not  to  be  at  the  same  time. 


WHAT  IS   SENSATION? 


Sensation  is  the  soul,  the  mind,  the  sentient  and 
percipient  being,  by  which  we  know  all  we  do  know  or 
possibly  can  know.  It  is  the  foundation  of  all  knowl- 
edge, and  the  only  intentional,  innate,  congenital,  or 
original  principle  belonging  to  the  organism  of  man, 
mind  or  body.  It  is  the  arbiter  of  all  our  actions.  It 
has  priority  and  superiority  over  all,  for  it  is  all  in  all. 
It  is  born  with  us,  giving  us  all  our  knowledge,  all  our 
pains  and  pleasures,  and  hojjes  and  fears,  and  dies  with 
us — it  is  our  life.  We  see  by  it,  hear  by  it,  smell  and 
taste  by  it ;  yes,  and  feel  all  we  do  feel,  externally  and 
internally,  by  it.  We  iDcrccivc,  conceive,  imagine,  reason, 
and  judge  by  it.  It  is  our  memory,  for  we  could  not 
remember  but  by  feeling  the  presence  of  things  remem- 
bered. It  is  our  conscience,  as  we  can  not  be  conscious 
of  a  thing  without  feeling  it.  We  are  conscious  wo  exist 
because  we  feel  that  we  exist.  It  is  the  foundation  of 
virtue,  of  morality,  and  of  religion.  We  have  a  sense  of 
honor,  of  pride  and  ambition ;  a  sense  of  duty  and  a 
sense  of  gratitude;  a  sense  of  condemnation  of  guilt  and 
sinfulness;  a  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  and  of  ti-utli  and 
falsehood.  It  short,  it  is  the  life,  tlie  mind,  and  the  man  ; 
without  it  we  arc  dead,  witliout  it  we  cease  to  think,  and 


124  THE   TRUE   nilLOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

without  it  wc  arc  nothing.  Sensation  constitutes  the  first 
hxw  of  our  natures,  and  is  given  to  us  by  our  Creator  for 
self-preservation ;  it  watches  every  pore  of  our  system 
from  the  stealthy  encroachment  of  disease,  and  every- 
thing that  may  harm  or  pain  us.  It  admonishes  us  to 
avoid  or  invite  as  our  sensations  may  be  agreeable  or 
disagreeable.  When  wearied  it  invites  us  to  rest,  and 
when  irksome  in  one  position  it  turns  us  over  to  another. 
Beauty,  symmetry,  and  utility  give  a  sense  of  pleasure ; 
while  vice,  immorality,  and  deformity  produce  pain  and 
disgust.  All  our  kind  and  benevolent  affections  arise 
from  a  delicate  and  refined  sensibility.  Yes,  and  the 
highest,  the  noblest,  and  the  most  durable  pleasure  is  in  a 
clear  conscience — in  doing  good ;  while  the  most  bitter 
sensation  of  anguish  and  remorse  is  in  a  guilty  conscience. 
Feeling  is  the  highest  attribute  of  God  himself.  More 
than  all  else,  without  sensation  we  could  have  no  feeling 
of  obligation  to  our  Creator,  nor  love  for  our  Saviour ;  no, 
nor  could  we  realize  the  pleasures  of  heaven  or  the  pains 
of  hell ;  so  that  reward  and  punishment  are  based  upon 
it.  Yes,  and  the  golden  rule,  to  "  do  unto  others  as  we 
would  have  them  do  unto  us." 

How,  then,  any  set  of  teachers  can  degrade  this  divine 
gift  and  discard  it  as  "low  and  sensual,"  except  it  is  that 
the  brute  has  it  in  common  with  man,  when  just  as 
rational  would  it  be  to  close  our  eyes  to  the  glaring  light 
of  day,  and  tear  out  our  stomachs,  because  God  has  seen 
proper  to  give  to  the  brute  those  blessings  as  well  as  to 
man.  From  the  examinations  of  near  one  hundred 
authors,  I  am  well  assured  that  it  is  this  supercilious  and 
sacrilegious  vanity  of  man  which  has  induced  him  to 
discard  the  system  of  sensationalism  and  advocate  the 
doctrine  of  mysticism,  which  has  kept  science,  morality, 
and  religion  back  for  thousands  of  years.  No  argument 
has  ever  been  used  against  the  true  doctrine  of  the  mind, 


IDEA.  125 

but  an  ignorant  and  vulgar  tirade  of  degrading  names, 
such  as  skeptic,  materialist  and  deist,  have  been  threat- 
ened against  its  advocates,  just  such  as  were  impiously 
hurled  against  God's  laws  of  astronomy,  geology,  and  all 
other  laws  of  science  when  first  discovered;  and  yet  have 
those  very  objectors,  when  no  longer  able  to  resist  the 
truth,  unblushingly  come  forward  and,  making  a  merit 
of  necessity,  taught  these  sciences ;  and  the  day  is  not 
far  distant  when  they  will  be  compelled  to  teach  the 
truth — the  true  science  of  mind. 


WHAT  IS  AN  IDEA  ? 


An  idea  is  simply  the  impression  of  an  object  upon  the 
mind,  with  which  the  mind  becomes  acquainted.  For 
instance,  if  an  elephant  be  brought  to  sight  for  the  first 
time,  and  the  name  given,  we  have  an  idea  of  an  ele- 
phant, and,  should  we  see  it  again,  we  would  pronounce 
it  an  elephant;  and  so  it  is  with  all  other  objects — each 
and  every  one  of  which  impress  their  appropriate  ideas. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  that  those  objects  should  be  presented 
to  the  mind  in  our  after  thoiights  of  them,  as  they  often 
recur  by  association,  and  are  even  brought  up  fresh  in 
our  dreams,  by  ruminating  causes  within  —  not  from 
spiritual  or  divine  agencies  (take  notice),  but  from 
physical  causes.  Evory  original  idea  or  thought,  of 
every  possible  description,  must  come  to  the  mind 
through  the  senses;  after  which  the  mind  (like  the 
mirror)  can  reflect  those  images  (ideas)  to  the  mcinory 
or  imagination.  The  mechanic's  shop  em]>(y  can  do 
nothing     hiil   fill    il   llnoiigh  (ho  (Iodts  (outward   senses) 

12 


126  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

with  materials  from  without,  and  those  materials  may  be 
made  to  assume  endless  shapes,  with  endless  names.  The 
kaleidoscope,  in  like  manner,  can  exhibit  no  form  or 
feature  without  materials ;  nor  can  wax  or  blank  paper 
operate  upon  themselves — but  are  subjects  to  be  acted 
upon  by  objects  without. 

It  is  true,  we  can  think  of  things  that  do  not  exist — 
as  a  flying  horse,  a  golden  mountain,  or  a  mermaid — but 
(mark  it)  we  have  had  the  materials  in  the  mind  of 
which  they  are  made  up.  For  instance,  we  have  seen 
a  horse,  and  we  have  seen  wings ;  gold  and  a  mountain  ; 
fish  and  women. 

Fearing  the  reader  may  think  I  am  burlesquing  in  my 
representation  of  the  almost  universal  teachings  of  mental 
philosophy,  I  will  make  a  short  quotation  from  Dr.  Reid's 
Intellectual  Powers  of  Man,  in  confirmation  of  all  I  have 
said,  or  may  say,  in  regard  to  the  gross  falsehoods  and 
the  astounding  folly  yet  taught  upon  the  subject  of  mind 
and  what  ideas  are. 

In  speaking  of  the  doctrines  of  Plato  and  Aristotle 
(which  are  in  reality  the  same  now  taught  by  mystic 
and  idealistic  philosophers),  he  says:  "  These  images  or 
forms  (ideas)  impressed  upon  the  senses  are  called  sensi- 
ble species,  and  are  objects  only  of  the  sensitive  part  of 
the  mind,  [7  wonder  where  that  part  of  the  mind  can  be 
which  is  not  sensitive,  or  has  no  seyisel ;  but  by  various 
internal  powers  they  are  retained,  refined,  and  spirit- 
ualized, so  as  to  become  objects  of  memory  and  imagin- 
ation, and  at  last  of  pure  intellection.  When  they  are 
objects  of  memory  and  imagination,  they  get  the  name 
of  phantoms;  when,  by  farther  refinement  and  being 
stripped  of  their  particularities,  they  become  objects  of 
science,  and  are  called  intelligible  species ;  so  that  every 
immediate  object,  whether  of  sense  or  of  memory,  of 
imagination  or  of  reasoning,  must  be  some  phantasm  or 
species  in  the  mind  itself" 


IDEA.  127 

Thus  we  have  the  mystic  mode  of  ideas,  and  the 
teaching  of  mental  philosophy,  and  thus  do  we  also  see 
how  far  a  phrcnzied  fanaticism  may  lead  great  men 
(fools)  greatly  astra}'.  David  Hume  (with  good  sense) 
converted  those  strange  things,  phantasms  and  species, 
into  more  visible  and  tangible  forms,  and  called  them 
impressions ;  and  Descartes  christened  these  incompre- 
hensibles,  and  called  them  ideas ;  which  name  they  have 
ever  since  borne.  Now,  though  I  think  my  own  author- 
ity (sustained  by  sound  logic  and  axiomatic  facts)  will  be 
ample  with  the  philosophic  reader,  I  will  make  a  few 
quotations  for  such  as  are  governed  by  great  names  and 
not  by  reason.  Sir  William  Herschel  saj's,  that  "  The 
whole  tendency  of  imperial  art  is  to  bury  itself  in 
technicalities  and  place  its  pride  in  complicated  special- 
ties and  in  mysteries  known  onlj-  to  adults."  Again  ; 
the  Rev.  Isaac  Watts,  in  his  work  on  the  improvement  of 
the  mind,  says:  "A  man  who  dwells  all  his  days  amongst 
books  may  have  amassed  together  a  vast  heap  of  notions; 
but  he  may  be  a  mere  scholar,  which  is  a  contemptible 
sort  of  character  in  the  world."  These  few  remarks 
speak  volumes  in  favor  of  coming  out  from  the  dark 
and  factitious  closet  of  the  mystic  and  mechanical  schools 
to  the  glowing  light  of  heaven,  and  the  unerring  revela- 
tion and  guidance  of  nature.  And  again.  Dr.  Scott  says: 
"A  teacher  of  divinity  maj^  be  a  living  concordance  and 
a  walking  index  to  theological  follies,  and  yet  know 
nothing  of  religion." 

These  facts  I  quote  as  equally  applicable  to  the  teachings 
of  mental  philosophy,  in  which  I  have  attempted  to  show 
that  no  amount  of  learning  or  labor  in  abstract  or  mystic 
things  can  ever  improve  science  or  aid  in  the  practical 
lessons  of  life.  I  assure  the  reader  that  the  systems  of 
mental  philosophy  now  taught  in  our  schools  are  more 
vague,    (■oin])li(!il«'d.    and     iiicoinprcIionsiMc    lh;in     those 


128  THE   TRUE    PJIILOSOPIIV    OF    MIND. 

maintained  in  the  days  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  two  thou- 
Band  years  a^o.  This  want  of  improvement  in  so  great  a 
length  of  time,  is  owing  to  the  want  of  original  and  inde- 
pendent thought,  each  book-maker  being  a  mere  copyist, 
and  each  teacher  being  of  the  same  stupid  and  stereotyped 
order.  I  have  forgotten  to  refer  the  reader  to  Sir  William 
Hamilton,  the  latest  author  (and  the  literary  wonder  of 
the  world),  in  farther  proof  of  my  assertion,  that  "all  the 
labor  of  past  ages  in  regard  to  mind  has  ended  in  con- 
fusion, and  without  any  satisfactory  agreement  among 
authors,"  who,  I  say,  have  lashed  the  air  with  frenzied 
fury  and  left  not  a  visible  mark  behind  them.  And  yet, 
strange  to  tell,  Sir  William,  after  prostrating  every  author 
who  stood  before  him,  steps  upon  the  same  platform  of 
their  "learned  ignorance.''  as  he  calls  it,  sets  out  with  a 
paradoxical  array  of  high  sounding  technicalities,  of  classi- 
fications, divisions,  sub-divisions,  and  mystic  refinings,  too 
vast  even  for  the  most  mystic  recluse  or  the  most  patient 
of  alchemic  philosophers. 

Having,  in  a  single  sentence,  given  you  the  idea  of  how 
we  receive  our  ideas,  I  am  at  a  loss  what  more  to  say 
other  than  to  tell  you,  as  before  done,  that  our  senses  arc 
the  only  inlets  to  knowledge  (ideas),  the  arbiters  of  truth, 
and  the  valid  witnesses  of  the  soul,  each  sense  impressing 
its  appropriate  ideas.  The  eye  can  not  smell,  nor  can  the 
nose  see,  and  yet  they  aid  each  other  in  determining  the 
nature  of  a  thing  presented  to  one  alone.  For  instance, 
the  ear  may  be  in  doubt  about  a  voice  it  hears,  but  let  the 
eye  glance  upon  the  person  or  object,  and  it  will  tell  the 
ear  who  it  is  or  what  it  is;  taste  sugar  for  the  first  time 
and  look  at  it,  and  the  eye  alone  will  afterward  tell  it  is 
sugar  without  the  taste.  We  might  hear  a  man  speak 
and  a  cow  low  a  thousand  times  if  blind,  and  we  could  not 
tell  which  the  voice  came  from ;  but  open  the  eye  to  the 
object  an<l  llie  oar  alone  couM  not  afterward  be  deceived; 


IDEA.  129 

or,  if  blind,  feeling  the  objects  at  the  same  time  we  hear 
them  would  aid  the  ear  ever  after. 

Touch  is  the  great  corrective  of  relative  distance,  which 
the  sight  alone  could  never  attain.  All  objects  presented 
to  the  eye  in  infancy  appear  equally  distant  from  it,  as 
pictures  upon  an  even  surface  do,  yet  greatly  unequal  in 
distance,  while  paintings,  though  upon  an  equal  surface? 
may  be  made  to  deceive  the  sight,  as  looking  very  unequal, 
which  deception  the  touch  would  quickly  correct.  Why 
do  the  heavenly  bodies,  though  some  of  them  millions  of 
miles  beyond  others,  look  equally  distant  ?  Simply  because 
we  can  not  get  among  them  and,  b}^  locomotion  and  touch, 
correct  the  error.  This  fact  is  proven  beyond  all  dispute 
by  persons  restored  to  sight  fi-om  a  congenital  cataract; 
who  would  as  soon  put  out  their  hand  to  reach  the  moon 
as  to  reach  a  man  three  feet  from  them ;  nor  can  they  tell 
by  sight  objects  they  had  often  felt  and  knew  by  touch. 
The  celebrated  surgeon,  Cheselden,  first  proved  this  fact  by 
restoring  to  sight  a  man  some  thirty  years  of  age,  who  could 
not  distinguish  any  difference  in  the  distance  of  objects, 
and  though  he  had  a  cat  and  a  dog,  which  objects  he  had 
often  felt  and  easily  distinguished,  he  could  not  by  sight 
tell  one  from  the  other,  till  at  last  in  his  perplexity  ho 
eyed  them  closely,  and  ])ut  his  hand  on  the  cat,  saying, 
"Now,  pussy,  go;  I  will  know  you  next  time."  Children 
will  climb  to  high  places  to  touch  the  moon  with  a  rod, 
and  infants  will  stretch  out  their  hand  to  reach  a  candle 
many  feet  fi'om  them. 

I  will  repeat  it,  in  fine,  that  sensation  is  the  mind,  and 
being  subject  to  all  manner  of  modes  of  action  or  sensa- 
tions, that  a  single  idea  is  simply  a  sensation  |n"()duced  by 
an  object  of  sense.  Fov  instance,  the  talde  heibre  mo 
impresses  by  sight  the  idea  of  a  table,  the  book  of  a  book, 
an<l  till-  iiiksliiinl  of  what  it  is.  Fire  gives  the  sensation 
or  iijeu.  i»y  touch,  of  heat;  the  ear  gives  us  a  variety  ol 


130  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OF    MIND. 

sensations  of  different  sounds;  the  taste,  of  different  flavors, 
and  the  nose  has  its  sensations  of  pleasure  and  pain  from 
the  various  odoriferous  objects  presented  to  it.  I  will 
further  say,  that  those  objects  of  sense  (as  great  houses, 
etc.)  do  not  enter  the  mind,  nor  are  our  ideas  of  them  big 
or  little,  round  or  square,  soft  or  rough,  red,  black,  or 
white;  but  each  and  every  object,  being  different  in  its 
nature,  produces  its  specific  sensation  or  idea,  to  which,  by 
language,  we  give  names.  The  same  sensations  from  the 
same  objects  are  the  same  in  all  ages  and  with  all 
persons,  but  are  designated  by  different  names  in  different 
languages.  If  black  had  originally  been  called  white,  and 
A  called  B,  they  would  have  been  just  as  well  understood. 
The  knife  which  inflicts  a  wound  bears  no  resemblance 
either  to  the  wound  or  the  pain  it  inflicts ;  the  pain  is  not 
in  the  knife,  but  in  the  mind.  There  is  no  fragrance  in 
the  rose  which  has  no  sensation,  nor  do  the  particles 
emitted  from  it  bear  any  resemblance  to  the  rose  itself. 
In  fine,  an  idea,  the  number  of  which  constitutes  all  our 
knowledge  and  intelligence,  is  an  eflfect,  a  perception,  or, 
rather,  a  conception  or  reception,  of  objects  and  instruc- 
tions forced  upon  the  mind,  which,  without  such  objects 
and  instructions,  could  never  have  an  idea,  or  become 
intelligent.  Direct  and  undeniable  proof  of  which  is,  that 
blind  persons  have  no  knowledge  of  objects  of  sight,  nor 
the  deaf  of  sounds  or  language. 


PERCEPTION.  131 


WHAT    IS  PERCEPTION? 


Perception  is  whatever  we  perceive  or  gain  a  knowl- 
edge of.  It  is  an  idea  of  something — something  presented 
to  the  senses.  For  instance,  if  a  horse  be  presented  to 
the  mind,  the  mind  at  once  perceives  it.  The  picture  of 
a  cow  is  next  stamped  upon  the  mind,  giving  it  an  idea, 
or  percej^tion,  not  only  of  the  cow,  but  the  ditference 
between  it  and  the  horse.  Thus  does  the  perception,  idea, 
or  knowledge  we  gain  of  the  horse  and  the  cow,  simple 
as  it  is,  fully  repi*esent  all  other  perceptions,  and  every 
description  of  knowledge  we  acquire  through  life.  I  see 
an  object  and  perceive  it.  I  hear  a  sound  and  perceive 
it.  Smell,  taste,  and  touch,  and  my  mind  perceives  the 
object  assailing  it,  through  those  senses.  Thus,  we  per- 
ceive, have  an  idea,  know,  believe,  judge  it  so,  and  have  a 
conscious  knowledge  of  the  fact,  requiring  no  great  meta- 
physical books  of  bewildering  technicalities  to  render  all 
doubtful.  God  made  the  eye,  and  made  it  ample  for 
all  objects  of  sight;  open  it  to  midday,  and,  without  those 
parasitic  faculties,  it  at  once  perceives  it,  nor  could  anj- 
artiticial  book  or  instruction  by  man  make  it  more  per- 
lect.  The  birds  and  beasts,  whose  senses  are  more 
]»erfect,  and  whose  perceptions  are  more  acute  than  ours, 
must,  according  to  the  doctrines  of  our  day,  have  more 
faculties  than  we,  and  teachers  who  understand  them 
hetter  than  ours.  I  ask  the  reader  to  scrutinize  closely, 
and  consider  words  and  arbitrary  sounds  worth  noth- 
ing, for  brutes,  childrun,  and  deaf  ])ersons  ])erceive, 
liiiiik,  reason,  will  and  act,  as  correctly  without  languages 
as  with  it ;  and  if  he  "will,  moreover,  consider  (jod  supe- 


132  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

rior  to  man,  he  will  no  longer  be  led  astray  by  the  vain 
conceit  and  learned  ignorance  of  man. 

What  more  to  say  I  know  not,  as  the  above  few 
sentences  have  told  all  that  is  known  of  mind,  and  of 
its  avenues  and  resources  of  knowledge,  save  this — that 
all  its  recurrent  thoughts  and  combination  of  knowledge, 
whether  awake  or  asleep,  are  brought  back  by  perceptive 
association  or  functional  excitement  from  within,  which  I 
call  the  recurrent  or  sixth  setise,  of  which  we  know  as 
little  as  we  do  how  the  chicken  is,  by  incubation,  brought 
from  the  egg  in  which  we  see  no  chicken,  or  the  man, 
mind  and  body,  is  forced  into  existence  from  a  seminal 
secretion — how  small-pox  and  vaccination  will  remain  in 
the  system  as  a  preventive  for  life — how  the  rabid  poison, 
as  from  the  bite  of  a  dog,  should  sleep  for  months,  or  even 
years,  before  development;  or  why  all  diseases  have 
their  jjeriod  of  incubation,  and  why  certain  morbid  con- 
ditions of  system  should  assume  periodic  forms.  What 
little  we  know,  either  of  mind  or  of  body,  we  gain  not 
from  intuitive  faculties,  but  simply  from-  perception,  and 
after  reflection.  Yea,  and  so  very  little  do  we  know  from 
life's  experience,  that  we  can  treat  neither  with  success. 
We  prate  much,  and  yet  the  sum  total  of  what  we  know 
is  to  the  unknown  as  an  inch  is  to  limitless  space,  or  as  a 
moment  is  to  unending  eternity.  The  child  may,  and 
often  does,  confound  the  philosopher  by  three  questions. 
Who  made  the  toy?  Man.  Who  made  the  tree?  God; 
and,  who  made  God?  Indeed,  such  is  our  ignorance, 
beyond  artistic  taste  and  technical  folly,  that  we  should 
blush  at  a  single  question.  What  is  the  life  of  the  hum- 
blest insect,  or  of  a  blade  of  grass,  no  philosopher  knows. 
Isaac  Newton,  after  tracing  the  laws  of  gravitation  from 
its  gentle  hand  upon  the  falling  apple,  to  its  mighty  grasp 
upon  whirling  worlds,  when  asked,  what  is  gravitation 
itself'?  answered,  I  know  no  more  than  the  ploughman  of 


PERCEPTION.  133 

the  field.  St.  Chrysostom  said,  "If  asked  what  is  time,  I 
know,  but  if  asked  to  explain,  I  know  not."  That  calomel 
will  purge  and  tartar  puke,  everj^body,  from  perceptive 
experience,  knows ;  but  of  the  modus  operandi  no  physician 
on  earth  can  more  than  answer  with  the  child,  "because;" 
and  this  ultimate  fact,  like  all  others,  must  be  left  with 
God  who  so  ordered  it.  I  had  intended  a  few  remarks 
upon  the  modes  of  mind  called  dreaming;  but  as  it  is  not 
worth  a  separate  head,  or  a  sheet  of  paper,  I  will  only  say 
that  we  constantl}^  dream,  both  by  day  and  by  night ;  but 
our  senses  being  true  inlets  of  knowledge,  and  the  valid 
witnesses  of  the  soul  when  awake,  they  limit  and  correct 
our  morbid  musings ;  but  when  fast  asleep,  place,  time, 
and  space  have  no  limitt^  or  correction.  All  mesmeric 
and  psychologic  exhibitions,  so  wonderful  and  inexplicable 
to  the  beholders,  are  by  first  lulling  the  perceptive  organs 
that  gave  the  mind  all  its  original  knowledge,  in  the 
absence  of  which  the  credulous  mind  believes  whatever 
is  told  to  and  commanded  of  it;  but  awake  these  senses, 
and  how  quickly  do  those  phantoms  fly.  Somniloquism 
and  somnambulism  also  have  their  ludicroTis  freaks  while 
the  senses  are  asleep ;  nor  is  there  any  end  to  the  asso- 
ciated ideas  stirred  up  by  functional  excitement.  For 
many  j-ears  I  dreamed  of  nothing  but  flying,  gliding  from 
height  to  height  on  easy  wing ;  but  for  the  last  ten  years 
my  dreams  have  all  been  unpleasant,  owing  to  some 
abnormal  condition  of  my  vital  functions.  Persons  have 
hcen  known  to  predict  a  spell  of  sickness  and  death  long 
before  their  occurrence,  unconscious  of  the  fact  that  the 
seeds  of  disease  were  diHtiirl>ing  their  vital  functions 
during  the  period  of  their  iiicubatiun.  iV-i-sons  inti^id- 
iiig  their  dejjarture  at  a  certain  lioiir  hy  stage  (jr  (tars, 
will  sle(5p  soundly  and  awake  at  (hat  hour,  (he  mind 
whicli    iHiVcr    sl('(^|is    btiing  watchful    ul'   lli;il    liuiir.      Wo 


184  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

often  dream  of  lost  articles  that  have  been  laid  away 
and  forgotten  for  years,  the  sixth  or  recurrent  sense 
reminding  our  memory  of  the  past. 


WHAT  IS  METAPHYSICS? 


Metaphysics,  as  taught  in  our  modern  schools,  is  but  a 
jargon  of  technical  and  abstract  nonsense — a  play  of 
words  upon  assumed  premises,  neither  understood  by  the 
writer  nor  the  reader.  I  have  never  read  an  author  on 
the  subject  who  did  not  at  once  obscure  and  perplex  it  by 
classifications,  divisions,  sub-divisions,  and  subtle  refinings, 
and,  by  interminable  mysticisms,  make  himself  wholly 
incomprehensible,  thus  bringing  the  very  name  of  meta- 
physics into  disrepute  by  sound  thinkers.  Metaphysics 
properly  means  the  science  of  mind,  psychology  the  soul — 
all  the  same — which  is  as  simple  and  demonstrable  as  any 
branch  of  physics,  when  not  rendered  unintelligible  by 
ineffectual  efforts  to  reach  the  infinite,  even  the  essence  of 
Grod  himself,  by  the  finite  mind.  If  the  reader  will  but 
think  for  himself,  he  will  see  hoAV  it  is  that  metaphysical 
writers  and  stupid  teachers  become  deranged  upon  this 
subject,  and  have  never  come  to  any  settled  or  satisfac- 
tory conclusion,  or  bettei'ed  mankind  in  honesty,  in 
morality  or  in  religion;  but  in  reality  have  rendered  the 
science  of  mind  (by  which,  of  course,  the  world  is 
governed)  more  perplexed  and  doubtful  than  it  was 
two  thousand  yeai*s  ago,  during  the  days  of  Plato  and 
Aristotle.  And  now,  to  convince  the  reader  of  what  I 
say,  I  ask  of  him  to  exercise  his  own  mind,  and  ascertain 
whether  he  can  even  imagine  the  limits  of  space  or  the 
end  of  eternity ;  that  is  whether  he  can  conceive  of  a 


METAPHYSICS.  135 

limited  place  or  point  beyond  which  there  is  nothing  nor 
no  space,  or  of  a  time  when  there  will  be  no  more  time, 
and  he  will  at  once  see  that  his  finite  mind  can  not  reach 
or  encompass  the  infinite,  and  also  why  it  is  that  mystic 
and  fanatical  philosophers  have  made  the  science  of  mind 
the  subject  of  perpetual  vacillation  and  doubt.  False 
premises,  based  upon  ft-enzied  and  transcendental  feelings, 
have  led  philosophers  and  divines  most  shamefully  and 
mischievously  astray  from  that  conservative  common 
sense  which  God  has  so  kindly  bestowed  upon  us,  as 
ample  for  all  the  practical  purposes  of  life.  The  contro- 
versy between  Bishop  Berkeley  and  David  Hume,  in 
regard  to  the  actual  existence  of  the  objective  and 
subjective  worlds,  and  by  which  Berkeley  annihilated 
one  and  Hume  the  other,  leaving  us  without  soul  or 
body,  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  ideas  of  our  (so-called) 
great  men  and  their  mystic  philosophy.  To  show  the 
common  reader  the  artistic  and  perplexing  mode  of 
teaching  mental  science,  I  will  make  but  two  short 
quotations  from  celebrated  authors,  thus  :  "  In  order  to 
reason,  we  must  have  the  subject,  or  that  concerning 
which  something  is  either  asserted  or  denied,  commanded 
or  inquired ;  the  predicate,  or  that  which  is  asserted, 
denied,  commanded,  or  inquired,  concerning  the  subject ; 
the  copula,  by  which  the  two  other  parts  are  connected. 
In  these  two  propositions :  Caesar  was  brave ;  men  are 
fallible.  Men  and  Cffisar  now  are  the  subjects;  fallible 
and  brave  are  the  predicates ;  are  and  was  are  the 
copulas."  See  TJpham's  Moral  Philosophy,  page  192. 
Again,  1  quote  from  Morell's  History  of  Modern  Philoso- 
phy, ])age  421.  In  treating  of  what  the  great  Fichte  calls 
the  absolute  principles  of  philosophy,  but  which  I  uffinu 
to  be  the  essence  of  absolute  nonsense,  he  says,  "  In  ordei-, 
therefore,  to  obtain  a  starting  point  for  a  systtun  of 
reasoning  and   Wn-  |inre  science,  we   must  look   steadily 


136  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OF    MIND. 

into  our  own  consciousness,  and  find  some  act  of  the 
mind's  own  spontaneous  production,  which  can  be 
regarded  in  every  case  as  axiomatically  true;  such 
being  found  (but  which  never  was  nor  never  can  be 
found),  it  would  give  us  the  absolute  and  unconditional 
principle  of  all  human  knowledge.  This  primitive  act 
is  none  other  than  the  principle  of  identity.  A=:A,  a 
principle  which  is  unconditionally  certain,  both  as  to 
its  matter  and  its  form.  No  one  will  dispute  the  prop- 
osition A=A,  when  it  is  not  enunciated  as  though  A 
implied  any  particular  existence,  but  simply  hypotheti- 
cally ;  that  if  A  is,  then  A  is  equal  to  A ;  and  yet,  in 
affirming  A=A,  I  pass  a  judgment— I  think;  and  in 
doing  so,  I  affirm  myself,  so  that  the  identity  of  me  is 
here  asserted ;  and  the  proposition  becomes  ego=ego. 
The  second  absolute  jjrinciple  is  the  category  of  negation, 
which  may  be  thus  exj^ressed :  A  is  not  =  A.  This 
proposition  is  conditional  as  to  matter,  because  it  depends 
upon  the  previous  truth,  A=A;  but  it  is  unconditional  as 
to  the  form,  viewed  as  an  absolute  act  of  the  mind ;  the 
equation  becomes  the  not  me,  if  not=the  me.  By  the 
former  proposition,  the  me  affirmed  itself;  by  this 
second  act,  the  me  affirms  the  not  me ;  that  is,  it 
places  something  before  it  which  is  opposed  to  itself. 
In  other  words,  in  the  one  case  the  mind  views  itself 
as  the  absolute  subject,  now  it  views  itself  as  object; 
forming  thus  the  opposition  which  is  necessary  to  every 
act  of  consciousness." 

Thus  may  the  reader  see  how  it  is,  and  why  it  is,  that 
more  than  two  thousand  years  in  the  teachings  of  mental 
science,  and  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-eight  years  of 
gospel  instruction,  have  ended  in  idle  speculation,  and 
rendered  no  benefit  to  society.  Were  authors  to  throw 
aside  their  logical  forms,  rhetorical  flourishes,  and  artistic 
vanity,  and  pursue  the  simple  laws  of  nature,  as  even 


MYSTERY.  137 

children  arc  prone  to  do  in  their  progress  of  knowledge, 
mankind  would  certainly  become  wiser  and  better,  by  a 
knowledge  of  their  own  nature,  and  of  their  destined 
spheres  in  this  life.  Man's  duty  here  is  action,  and  not 
speculation  ;  it  is  practical  piety,  thi'ough  charit}^  and 
kindness,  and  not  dogmatic  theology,  Avith  its  bitter 
intolerance  and  distracting  isms. 

Modern  divines  are  like  Milton's  fallen  angels,  had 
"reasoned  high  of  providence,  foreknowledge,  will,  and 
fate — fixed  fate,  free-will,  foreknowledge  absolute  and 
found  no  end,  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 


WHAT  IS  MYSTERY? 


My.sterv  is  a  profound  secret,  unknown  to  all  but  im- 
postcrs,  who,  being  favorites  of  Ilcavpn,  arc  given  the 
power  of  disclosing  those  secrets  which  God  keeps  cai'c- 
fuU}'  hid  from  all  others  !  This  god,  Mysterj^,  has  been 
held  in  awe  and  admiration,  and  worshiped  by  millions 
of  the  demented  and  duped  masses  of  mankind  from 
the  earliest  period  of  our  j-ace  to  the  present  time.  Yes, 
this  great  god,  the  father  of  all  the  idols  and  little 
gods  throughout  the  world,  the  father  of  thi'cc  hundred 
and  thirty  odd  millions  of  gods  in  the  East  alone 
(according  to  the  best  missionary  authorities),  where 
he  has  at  this  moment  more  than  one-half  of  the  human 
family  chained  down  lo  the  most  cruel,  gross,  and 
degrading  modes  of  worship  ;  and  such  is  the  firm  venera- 
tion of  the  antic)  uity  of  these  gods  that  reason  is 
scouted  as  it  fallw  ii-ijm  the  mouths  of  our  missionaries. 
T<ll    mt'    not     I  Inn,    \v    mystic    teachers    of  tin-    human 


138  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

mind,  that  wc  have  an  intuitive  and  unerring  (conscience) 
knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  and  a  sacred  guide  to 
religious  faith  and  devotion.     But  read  as  follows  from 
the  pen  of  a  missionary,  Eev.  Mr.  Word  :     "  Instigated 
by  the  demon  of  superstition,  many  mothers,  in  fulfill- 
ment of  a  vow  entered  into  for  the  purpose  of  procuring 
the  blessing  of  children,  drown  their  first-born.     When 
the  child  is  two  or  three  years  old  the  mother  takes  it 
to   the   river,  encourages   it  to   enter  as   though   about 
to  bathe  it,  but  suffers  it  to  pass  into  the  midst  of  the 
current,  when  she  abandons  it,  and  stands  an  inactive 
spectator,    beholding    the    struggles    and    hearing    the 
screams   of   her    perishing    infant !     At    Sangwi   Island 
mothers  were  seen  casting  their  living  offspring  among 
a  number  of  alligators,  and  standing  to  gaze  on  those 
monsters     quarreling    for     their    prey,    beholding    the 
writhing  infant  in  the  jaws  of  the  successful  animal,  and 
standing   motionless  while   it  was   breaking  the  bones 
and  sucking  the  blood  of   the  poor  innocent!"     Away, 
then,  with  your  -divine  conscience,  which  leads  to  such 
awful  and  appalling  scenes  of  inhumanity  as  the  above, 
and  grant,  in  honesty  and  in  truth,  that  the  brute  has 
a  more  divine  conscience  than  the  human,  for  they  will 
risk  their  lives  and  fight  to  the  death  for  their  tender 
offspring.     If    such    teachers    and    preachers    as    write 
books    on    nature   were    to    throw   aside   their   abstract 
nonsense,   pedagogical    conceit   and    ignorant    learning, 
as  Sir  William  Hamilton  calls  it,  and  study  history  (not 
as  the  parrot  learns  languages,  but  moralize  upon  the 
philosophy    of    history),   they   would    gain    a    crushing 
knowledge  of  the  demented  condition  of  their  race  and 
of  their  own  exceeding  littleness. 

Mystery  is  the  father  of  superstition,  and  the  grand- 
father of  bigotry  that  figures  so  conspicuously  in  our 
modern  churches  and  boasts  of  its  ori^^in.     It  affords  a 


MYSTERY.  139 

living  for  millions  of  its  appointees  who  filch  the  pockets 
of  their  devotees.  Fortune-tellers,  soothsayers,  aiigiirers, 
gj-psies,  and  diviners,  of  every  description,  have  been 
sustained  by  mysterj-.  No  one  in  classic  days  doubts 
the  divine  authority  and  power  of  the  oracular  priest- 
hood, and  such  was  the  faith  (conscience)  of  wiser  heads 
than  ours,  that  Alexander  the  Great,  after  conquering  the 
world,  penetrated  far  into  the  deserts  of  Africa  to  consult 
the  oracle  of  Jupiter  Amnion  ;  nor  can  we  marvel  at  this 
if  we  will  come  nearer  home  and  to  a  later  date  and  read 
the  philosophy  and  hear  the  preaching  of  our  own  time. 
We  see  uninspired  men  of  finite  minds  profess  by  learn- 
ing to  reach  the  infinite  designs  of  Deitj^  and  to  explain 
his  revealed  will.  Now  look  at  this  with  an  eye  of  de- 
votion to  divine  truth  and  you  wnll  see  that  to  say  God 
has  revealed  a  mj'stery,  and  has  given  us  a  guide  beyond 
the  capacity  he  has  given  us  to  understand,  is  a  solecism 
in  language  and  an  absurdity  in  the  nature  of  things ; 
yes,  and  a  libel  upon  the  Supreme  himself.  It  is  to  say 
man  can  make  God's  law  plainer  than  he  himself  did 
or  could  do.  God  is  not  like  the  bloody  tyrant  of  Rome 
who  gave  to  his  subjects  a  laM',  and  wrote  it  so  fine  and 
hung  it  so  high  as  not  to  be  read,  that  he  might  punish 
them  for  not  understanding  it.  If  God  has  given  to 
his  children  a  law  beyond  their  capacity,  he  can  not,  in 
justice,  hold  them  responsible  to  that  law ;  and  hence  it 
is  that  in  defence  of  our  Maker,  I  say  there  are  no  mys- 
teries necessary  to  salvation  in  the  Bible,  and  if  there  are 
they  were  never  intended  to  be  understood,  for  the  very 
word  and  nature  of  a  mystery  is  beyond  the  ken  of 
uninspired  men.  The  very  name  of  mystery,  I  repeat  it, 
carries  with  it  the  impossibility  of  human  explanation  ; 
and  why,  then,  give  such  a  degrading  credence  to  the 
vanity  of  our  earthl}'  leaders,  who  profess  to  ex))luin 
that   which,   in   its  very  nature,   is   incomprehensible.      I 


110  THE    TRUE    rillLOSOPIlY    OF    MIND. 

know  that  all  who  may  dare  the  sacredncss  of  long- 
established  cuHtoms  must  suffer  popular  censure  ;  and 
I  can  now  see  Socrates  swallowing  the  poison  because 
he  could  not  believe  in  the  man-made  gods  and  corrupt 
religion  of  his  day,  and  Galileo  upon  his  knees  before 
an  ignorant  and  ungodly  priesthood.  I  can  also  see  the 
mighty  array  of  holy  orders,  and  the  thunder  bolts  of 
the  Vatican  hurled  at  Martin  Luther,  who  w^as  anatha- 
matized  and  pronounced  by  sacred  custom  "  too  base  for 
dogs  to  eat  with."  John  Wesley,  too,  in  common  with  all 
others  who  have  labored  for  the  freedom  of  thought  and 
the  improvement  of  religion,  have  in  like  manner  been 
rewarded  by  the  malevolence  and  bitter  denunciation  of 
the  church.  I  feel  assured,  however,  that  the  time  is 
coming  when  the  light  of  science  will  lift  the  minds  of  men 
from  the  petty  arts  and  Mnly  tricks  of  their  erring  fellow- 
mortals,  to  see  the  resplendent  glory  and  eternal  majesty 
of  the  one  God,  when  their  groveling  faith  in  the  mystic 
mummery  of  their  little  psuedo  gods  will  vanish  as 
does  the  ghost  of  night  and  the  mists  of  morn  before 
the  rising  sun.  "  The  heavens  declare  the  glorj^  of  God 
and  the  firmament  showeth  forth  his  handiwork."  Yes, 
then,  and  not  till  then,  will  all  eyes,  to  the  uttermost 
bounds  of  the  earth,  be  turned  to  the  one  great  God, 
and  to  Christ,  the  simple  Child  of  nature,  as  the  arche- 
type of  perfection,  and  their  only  Guide  and  Hope  for 
happiness  here  and  hereafter. 

Thus  have  I  aimed  to  show  what  the  human  mind  is, 
and  to  prove,  by  the  history  of  facts,  that  those  who 
err  most  in  religion  are  guided  by  this  deceptive  feeling 
called  a  divine  conscience,  and,  moreover,  that  the  grosser 
and  more  foreboding  the  error,  the  stronger  their  faith,  a 
faith  so  inveterate  and  incurable  that  death  is  no  terror, 
but  is  invited  by  self-privations  and  austere  severities 
even  unto  death.     O  incnial  jihilosopliy,  thai  thou  couldst 


MYSTERY.  141 

take  {I  lesson  from  living  and  undeniable  tacts ;  and 
not  labor  as  thou  hast  done  to  the  slander  of  God,  the 
disgrace  of  man,  and  the  blight  of  science.  I  had 
thought  to  be  done,  but  thei*e  are  great  and  leading 
principles  in  this  history  that  should  not  be  lightly 
passed  over,  and  one  in  particular,  to-wit:  That  faith 
in  religion,  even  to  niartyi'dom,  is  no  evidence  of  the 
truth  or  superiority  of  that  religion  ;  for  if  so,  Buddhism 
is  the  true  religion  of  the  world,  having  ten  thousand 
of  the  faithful  to  one  of  any  other  religion,  and  a  hundred 
thousand  martyrs  to  one  that  can  be  found  amongst  all 
the  other  religions  of  the  world  put  together.  This 
bloody  conscience,  then,  which  1  war  against  so  much, 
is  no  safe  guide  to  truth,  to  humanity,  or  to  justice,  but  is 
simply  a  proof  of  sincerity  in  the  person  who  is  governed 
by  it,  and  the  crazy  man  actuated  by  the  sam5  principle 
(conscience)  is  equally  honest  and  sure  in  his  convictions. 
Abraham's  faith  was  such  that  he  was  willing  to  sacrifice 
his  son  Isaac,  and  the  faith  of  a  well-known  lady  in 
Louisville  (the  very  first  in  society)  was  so  overwhelming 
as  to  prompt  hfr  will  to  sacrifice  her  three  children  by 
throwing  them  out  of  a  fourth-story  window  upon  the 
pavement,  sending  them  to  the  Lord,  as  she  said  she 
had  pledged  to  do,  as  though  God  delighted,  like 
a  bloody  monster,  in  the  sufterings  and  death  of  little 
innocents.  Thus  is  reason  to  be  sacrificed  upon  the 
altars  of  this  god,  Moloch,  who  is  taught  by  modern 
writers  and  many  preachers,  to  be  a  divine  director, 
and  to  be  implicitly  obeyed!  O  thou  mystic  monster 
(conscience)  eucouragi^d  by  divines  to  murder  reason, 
the  first  and  highest  attribute  of  God  himself! 

This  mystic  })hilo.so])hy  and  theology  was  j)ractically 
carriijd  out  hy  KinanucI  Swcwlenborg,  the  founder  of  the 
N«'\v  .Icrusaleiii  Church,  and  is  ikjw  the  mysterious  lever 
and    main-spring  of  the   spiritual    rappers,   a    new   sect, 


142  THE   TRUE   THILOSOrHY    OF   MIND. 

proselyting  faster  than  any  creed  ever  before  gotten  up 
by  a  phrenzied  imagination  ;  demonstrating  the  fact,  that 
to  teach  a  supernatural  power  or  divine  influence  of 
mind,  is  to  obstruct  science  and  distract  religion,  as  it 
ever  has  done.  Did  I  believe  as  many  do,  that  my  erratic 
and  transcendental  feelings  were  the  prompting  of  angels 
or  divine  spirits,  I  should  like,  then,  to  yield  my  reason 
and  common  sense  to  their  guidance.  But  I  have  said, 
and  say  again  and  again,  that  the  mind  is  governed  by 
fixed  and  physical  laws,  without  which  we  can  never 
have  any  science  or  knowledge  of  mind. 


SUPERSTITION. 


Superstition  is  an  over-credulous  faith  in  mystic 
things  (which  I  have  been  combating  throughout).  It 
is  an  unfortunate  taint  and  tendency  of  the  human  mind 
to  follow  the  pretended  vicegerents  of  God  and  the  ex- 
pounders of  his  mysteries,  as  though  God  had  hid  his 
will,  and  given  to  his  children  a  law  beyond  the  capacity 
he  gave  them  to  understand.  It  is  a  belief  without  evi- 
dence, which  tends  to  false  religion  and  false  worship, 
and  has  been  the  clinging  and  clamorous  curse  (as  before 
said)  both  of  true  religion  and  of  science.  We  need  not 
go  back  to  the  Brahminical  sages,  nor  to  Oriental  Panthe- 
ism, to  Egyptian  astrology,  heathen  mythology,  nor  the 
endless  shades  of  Paganism,  to  show  that  man  has  been 
chained  to  the  grossest  and  most  degrading  superstition, 
and  led  as  an  ox  by  the  despotic  opinion  of  others.  This 
may  seem  to  be  a  bold  and  degrading  assertion ;  but  it  is 


SUPERSTITION.  143 

one  in  which  the  history  of  facts  will  bear  me  out.  To 
grant  the  might}^  influence  which  the  opinion  of  one  man 
may  have  over  millions  of  his  fellow-mortals,  in  succes- 
sion,  we  have  but  to  learn  that  Confucius  gave  laws  and 
religion  to  China,  Socrates  to  Persia,  and  Mahomet  to 
Arabia;  and  thousands  of  other  cases  might  be  named 
where  mind  has  held  despotic  dominion  over  mind. 
There  are  men  now  (who  I  might  name  if  not  offensive 
to  their  followers)  who,  by  their  dictum,  wield  millions 
of  their  followers  with  as  much  certainty  and  ease  as  a 
a  boy  whirls  his  top.  Joe  Smith,  the  Mormon  impostor, 
is  a  lamentable  instance  of  this  kind.  His  craft  and 
wily  tricks  have  already  grasped  the  four  quarters  of 
the  globe,  and  creatures  of  all  languages  and  nations  are 
crossing  stormy  seas  and  traversing  forests  wide  and  wild 
to  worship  at  his  shrine.  Thousands  of  smaller  dictators 
rise  up  from  time  to  time  to  lead  captive  the  unthinking 
in  the  various  isms  and  degradations  of  the  day.  Jug- 
gling demagogues  and  metaphysical  fanatics  have  also 
entered  the  vortex  of  mental  distraction  and  swelled  the 
scene  of  unhallowed  bickerings-  and  revelings  without 
charity.  No  brotherhood  is  found  on  earth ;  no  bonds 
of  union  or  ties  of  friendship  to  be  felt.  No  one  God, 
one  people,  one  church,  is  granted — all  is  left  in  darkness 
and  in  doubt — each  little  party  impiously  arrogating  to 
itself  the  special  gifts  of  Heaven!  All  have  agreed  to 
disagree  in  all  things,  save  only  that  reason  is  to  bo 
condemned  as  the  enemy  of  mystery  and  the  faith  in 
things  unseen,  and  that  the  bulls  and  thunderbolts  of  the 
church  are  to  bo  hurled  with  pious  fury  against  poor 
nature — in  other  words,  the  progress  of  science.  And 
now,  to  justify  every  sentiment  I  may  utter,  and  to 
reiuler  incontrovertible  every  statement  I  may  make  in 
regard  to  Hupcrstition  and  fanaticism,  1  refer  to  historical 
facts.     Here  the  rea<l(T  will  find  the  trial  and  condemna- 


144  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OV    MIND. 

tion  of  Galileo — one  of  the  greatest  and  best  of  men — for 
casting  off  the  superstitious  and  libelous  estimates  of  the 
works  of  God,  and  bringing  his  mighty  and  marvelous 
truth  to  the  light  of  day.  Here  it  is,  reader.  Ponder 
over  it,  and  weep  for  the  ignorance  and  fanaticism  of 
man:  "I,  Galileo,  aged  seventy  years,  and  on  my  knees 
before  you,  most  reverened  Lords  and  Cardinals,  and 
general  Inquisition  of  the  Universal  Church,  of  heretical 
depravity,  having  my  eyes  upon  the  Holy  Gospel,  which 
I  do  touch  with  mj^  lips,  do  swear  that  I  believe,  always 
have  believed,  and  always  will  believe,  every  article  which 
the  Holy  Catholic  Apostolic  Eoman  Church  holds,  and 
teaches,  and  preaches;  and  as  I  have  written  a  book  in 
which  I  have  maintained  that  the  sun  is  the  centei* — 
which  false  doctrine  is  repugnant  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures— I,  with  sincere  heart,  do  abjure,  curse,  and  detest 
the  said  error  and  heresy,  and  generally,  every  other 
error,  and  heresy,  and  sect,  contrary  to  said  Holy 
Scriptures." 

Cast  your  eyes  all  over  the  world,  and  meditate  upon 
the  present  degraded  and  melancholy  condition  of  man- 
kind. Then  read  back,  through  mouldering  ages,  the 
history  of  all  nations  that  have  come  and  gone,  and  you 
will  see  that  superstition  has  produced  the  most  wicked, 
abominable  and  cruel  gods  that  ever  polluted  earth  ;  and 
yet,  none  too  monstrous  and  detestable  for  human  faith 
and  conscious  worship. 

O,  superstition !  long  hast  thou  been  the  slanderer  of 
God  and  of  his  glorious  works,  and  millions  of  good  men 
hast  thou  persecuted  and  i>ut  to  death  (amongst  whom 
were  John  Eogers  and  Michael  Servetus).  Thou  art  a 
professor  of  religion;  yet  hast  ever  been  pleased  to  do 
Satan's  bidding!  Deny  it  not,  thou  murderer,  under  the 
curse  of  God  and  the  wtathful  detestation  of  all  mankind ! 
From  thy  fiendish  back  let  the  cloak  of  hypocrisy  be  torn, 
and  thy  detestable  deformity  be  exposed. 


SUPERSTITION.  145 

Every  aspiring  effort  of  the  soul  to  free  itself  from  the 
fetters  of  superstition  and  rise  to  the  throne  of  God,  by 
his  demonstrable  laws  of  science,  has  been  closely  watched 
and  bitterly  denounced  as  heretical  and  contrary  to  the 
canons  of  the  church.     The  power  of  the  magnet  and  the 
discovery  of  the  compass  and  navigation  were  supposed  to 
be  the  work  of  evil  spirits.     The  invention  of  gunpowder, 
by  Roger  Bacon,  was  condemned  as  an  unquestionable 
work  of  the  Devil — the  presence  of  sulphur  being  too 
odorous   for  denial  —  and  the   author  was   thrown    into 
prison,  where  he  died.     Printing  was  certainly  of  Satan, 
and  the  author  sought  to  be  put  to  death  by  the  learned 
clergy.     His  house  in  which  he  printed,  in  Paris,  with  his 
paper  and  type,  were  all  burnt,  and  a  guard  set  to  keep 
the  devil  from  escaping.     This  is  history.     Again ;  Har- 
vey's discovery  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  was  reviled 
by  the  learned  clergy  as  false  and  highly  dangerous  to  the 
vitals  of  religion.     For,  said  they,  "  H  the  bounding  spirit 
(pulse)  so  plainly  seen  and  felt  struggling  to  escape  from 
its  tenement  of  clay,  be  nothing  but  the  circulation  of  a 
fluid,  it  will   render  all   those  glorious  doctrines  of  the 
immateriality  of  the   soul   doubtful,    and   render   God's 
Holy  Scriptures  null  and  void.'     "If,"  said  these  same 
learned  clergy,  who  burnt  the  first  book  on  astronomy, 
"  it  should  be  shown  that  the  sun  and  stars  are  not  little 
lamps  that  turn  round  this  world  to  give  it  light,  it  will 
dc'sli-oy   the    Bible  faith,  which   says   that  Joshua  com- 
manded the  sun  to  stand  still  for  a  given  time,  and  It 
obeyed."      I  now  ask   the  honest  reader  whether  these 
learned  decisions,  or  the  word  and   mighty  works  of  God 
arc  true?     Theologians  strove  to  put  down  the  science 
of   geology,   as    wh(jlly    incompatible    with    the    Mosaic 
account    of   creation  ;     but    their    babblings    against    the 
age    of  the    earth,   as   well   as   its    inovciiiients,   are    now 
laughed   at  liy  boys.      The  writings  ol"    Pullcndurf  and 


146       V  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

(frotiiw  were,  in  like  maiinei',  denounced  as  unsafe, 
because  their  maxims  and  morals  were  taken  from  the 
laws  of  nature,  as  grounded  in  our  constitutions  by  our 
Maker,  and  not  fi'om  their  interpretations  of  the  Bible — 
a  book  not  to  be  degraded  by  political  parties  or  subor- 
dinated to  the  cupidity  of  church  olficials.  The  discovery 
of  inoculation,  by  Dr.  Jenner,  was  pronounced  wicked  and 
brutal — ingrafting  the  brute  into  the  human — and  should 
be  put  down  by  law.  Proof  was  had  before  the  courts, 
after  the  death  of  infants  (it  mattered  not  from  what 
cause),  if  inoculated,  that  horns  had  been  seen  gi'owing 
out  of  their  heads,  and  sermons  and  harangues  of  violent 
denunciation  against  inoculation  are  yet  extant. 

If  said  all  this  was  not  from  superstition  but  fanat- 
icism, I  would  answer  that  superstition  is  the  father 
of  fanaticism,  and  though  done  in  the  sacred  name  of 
God  and  of  his  revealed  will,  it  certainly  was  the  work 
of  Satan.  Call  it  religious  zeal,  or  what  you  please,  I  can 
not  but  pronounce  it  a  Satanic  and  infernal  malignity 
which  fanned  the  flames  of  persecution,  and  prompted 
preacher  to  drag  preacher  to  the  stake  and  broil  him  alive, 
when  devils  in  their  hellish  spite  could  do  no  more. 

Had  Franklin,  who  sacinlegiously  drew  lightning  from 
heaven,  lived  in  those  days,  he  would  have  suffered  as 
did  Prometheus,  for  stealing  fire  from  heaven  ;  and  Morse, 
who  wilfully  harnessed  this  fiery  element  and  set  it  to  car- 
rying the  mail,  would  certainly  have  been  put  to  the 
stake. 

In  regard  to  the  cruelties  of  past  ages  there  has  been  but 
little  difference  between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism, 
and  I  would  feel  just  as  safe  under  the  hierarchy  of  Olympus 
or  pontificate  of  Rome,  as  under  Protestant  dogmatism 
with  its  adverse  doctrines  and  warring  creeds.  It  may 
be  said  that  the  divine  influence  of  reason  and  the  pro- 
gress of  science  have  extinguished  those  awful  cruelties 


SUPERSTITION.  147 

of  man  to  man;  but  this  is  not  so,  for  every  reader 
who  has  any  knowledge  of  the  selfish  and  party-pas- 
sions of  man  must  see  that  but  for  the  conservative 
power  of  skepticism  and  church  divisions,  the  horrid  and 
heart-sickening  scenes  of  Smithfield  and  Bartholomew 
would  be  enacted  over  and  over  again.  Yes,  the  fiendish 
fires  of  human  sacrifices  would  be  kindled,  and  the  bloody 
sword,  clotted  with  human  gore,  would  again  be  un- 
sheathed. And  though  there  can  not  nOw  be  a  suffi- 
cient concentration  of  power  in  any  one  of  the  warring 
sects  to  carry  on  those  vengeful  acts  of  inhumanity,  there 
rankles  in  the  heart  a  secret  enmity  that  lacks  but  num- 
bers to  make  itself  known. 

To  show  the  taint  and  tendency  of  the  human  mind,  and 
its  deplorable  credulity  in  matters  of  superstition,  we  have 
but  to  recollect  what  all  the  papers  of  the  United  States 
published  a  few  years  ago,  in  our  own  day  and  time,  and 
that  at  our  own  doors.  Matthias,  the  favorite  apostle  of 
Christ,  appeared  in  person  in  the  city  of  New  York,  Avhere 
the  wealthy  recognized  him,  and  dressed  him  in  the  most 
gorgeous  robes ;  and  woo  to  his  devotee  who  had  a  pretty 
wife,  for  he  soon  disappeared.  Yet  still  his  worship- 
ers kneeled  before  him  till  the  number  of  strange  deaths 
induced  skeptics  and  infidels  to  raise  the  alarm,  where- 
upon the  great  apostle  vanished  from  earth,  but  soon  after 
turned  up  alive  again,  in  an  adjoining  city,  as  the  classic 
god  Adonis,  and  of  course  was  again  worshiped  and 
adored,  particularly  by  ladies  of  taste — for  the  virtuous 
and  refined  Lucretia  worshipped  Venus,  the  prosti- 
tute goddess,  and  Adonis,  with  all  the  other  notorious 
debauchee  gods,  the  rankest  rakes  of  the  land,  and  why 
not  modern  ladies  do  the  same!  And  now,  I  say  to  you, 
my  reader,  there  is  no  creed  too  absui'd,  no  ])r()])nsili()n 
too  monstrous  for  the  human   mind. 


148  THE   TRUE    PIIILOSOPHT   OF    MIND. 


WHAT  IS  A  FACULTY? 


Faculty  is  a  woi'd  coined  and  used  by  the  manufacturers 
of  shoddy  text-books  on  psychology,  mental  philosophy,  or 
metaphysics — all  meaning  the  same  thing;  which  books 
are  taught  in  bur  modern  colleges,  where  old  folks  go  to 
listen  to  the  wonderful  answers  of  their  sons  and  daughters 
to  questions  they  themselves  know  knothing  about,  and 
(between  you  and  I)  of  which  the  writers  and  teachers 
know  as  little,  yet  by  which  they  live  and  command  the 
admiration  of  the  old  folks,  who  wonder,  and  whose  won- 
der grows  at  the  mystic  wonders  of  these  deep  learned 
teachers,  to  whom  they  would  not  pay  a  dime  to  graduate 
their  daughters  in  a  useful  or  culinary  school.  It  is,  then, 
no  longer  wonderful  that  mystery  should  still  be  sustained 
both  by  preachers  and  teachers,  when  there  is  so  much 
eclat  and  money  in  it.  This  same  trait  in  the  human 
mind  of  reverence  for  things  unrevealed  and  artfully  made 
difficult  of  comprehension,  is  the  father  of  all  the  wild 
ravings  and  religious  fanaticism  of  the  world. 

If  there  are  faculties  anywhere,  they  arc  not  in  the 
mind,  but  in  the  objects  that  awaken  the  mind,  and 
impress  their  nature  upon  the  mind,  which,  being  a  mere 
passive  recipient,  can  not  resist  the  ideas  thus  forced  upon 
it.  And  hence  it  would  seem  that  sugar  has  the  faculty  of 
sweetness,  vinegar  has  a  sour  faculty,  and  fire  has  two 
faculties,  that  of  producing  both  pleasure  and  pain.  Man 
begets  the  idea  or  faculty  of  two  legs,  and  a  horse  that  of 
four  legs ;  which  moots  a  question  of  much  metaphysical 
and  abstract  learning,  whether  a  man  or  a  horse  has  the 
most  faculties.  The  mind,  I  repeat  it,  is  a  mere  passive 
recipient,  without   power  either  to  create  or  resist  the 


FACULTY.  149 

nature  of  those  objects  which  beget  ideas  within  it.  For 
instance,  suppose  yourself  in  a  dark  room;  your  mind, 
with  all  its  powers  and  faculties,  fhlsely  given  it,  can  not 
create  or  see  the  sun,  or  even  a  candle ;  but  light  a  candle, 
and  it  can  not  resist  seeing  it.  Blow  it  out,  and  what? 
It  can  no  longer  see.  This  being  the  case  with  all  our 
other  senses,  and  the  law  and  order  of  receiving  all  our 
knowledge  of  every  possible  description,  why  so  falsely 
teach  the  nature  of  mind?  All  after-thoughts  or  ideas 
thus  received  arc  brought  back  to  the  mind  by  asso- 
ciation. 

Faculty  is  a  word  conveying  a  false  meaning,  gotten  up 
by  art  and  enforced  by  arbitrary  authority.  Yes,  \  repeat 
it,  a  word  from  which  millions  of  money  has  been  coined 
by  writers  and  teachers;  and  by  which  as  many  brains 
have  been  addled  and  dwarfed  by  efforts  to  understand  it. 
This  word  multiplied  by  each  author's  own  number,  then 
spiritualized,  refined,  classified,  divided,  sub-divided,  and 
again  multiplied  by  no  defined  number,  for  every  writer 
has  his  own  number  of  faculties  to  constitute  what  they 
call  mind,  which,  being  filled  with  a  vast  number  of  these 
faculties,  and  the  innumerable  elements  belonging  to  each 
faculty,  becomes  a  mystic  marvel  and  an  inexplicable 
enigma  to  writers,  readers,  and  teachers!  Now  all  this 
parade  and  apparent  learning  I  detest  and  condemn,  as 
not  only  false,  but  perplexing  and  unprofitable  to  the 
pupil,  who  never  has,  nor  ever  can  be  made  to  under- 
stand it;  and  could  he  comprehend  it,  it  would  be  as  a 
grievous  and  toiling  error.  Mind  I  hold  to  be  a  unit,  an 
indivisible  being,  of  which  we  know  nothing  beyond  its 
will  and  acts,  and  whose  laws  are  few,  simple  and  easy  of 
comprehension,  by  all  who  will  think  for  themselves,  and 
notice  the  operation  of  their  own  niijids.  Jt  will  be 
o})H(!rved  that  the  niind  liirns  with  as  inncli  certainty  to 
I  he  object   that  aHHails  it,  as  ihtvn  tlir  nccille  to  tlu-  magnet 

1  t 


150  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

that  attracts  it ;  nor  arc  our  ideas  or  thoughts  cither  ex- 
clusively the  mind  itself  or  the  object  itself,  which  stamps 
the  mind  with  the  nature  and  quality  of  itself  Authors 
foolishly  and  assumptively  take  the  one  extreme  or  the 
other,  of  subjectivity  or  objectivity;  Avhen,  in  reality.  It  is 
neither,  but  simply  the  union  of  the  two,  as  the  union  of 
the  father  and  the  mother,  in  the  production  of  a  child. 
Haven,  when  treating  of  this  subject,  speaks  thus:  "Is 
beauty  and  sublimity  subjective,  an  emotion  of  our  minds, 
or  is  it  a  quality  of  objects?"  A  true  answer  to  which  is, 
it  is  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  but  a  union  of  both. 
It  might,  with  equal  propriety,  be  asked,  is  muriatic  acid 
table  saft,  or  is  soda  table  salt;  when  any  man  of  science 
will  answer  to  this  ignorant  question,  neither  of  them  are 
table  salt ;  in  other  words,  muriate  of  soda  is  a  new  creation 
by  the  union  of  the  two.  Haven  again  asks:  "Is  taste 
intellectual  or  emotional?"  as  though  sensations  and  emo- 
tions were  not  simply  modes  of  mind  or  intellect  itself. 
He  further  asks :  "  Whether  the  enjoyment  of  a  beautiful 
sunset  is  in  the  painted  cloud  or  in  the  mind  itself?"  to 
which  true  mental  science  answers,  the  cause  (as  in  motive 
and  will)  is  in  the  cloud,  and  the  effect  or  enjoyment  in 
the  mind ;  which  takes  us  back  to  my  oft-repeated  doc- 
trine, and  only  productive  principle  of  universal  nature, 
dualism;  as,  but  for  the  cloud, there  would  be  no  cause  for 
such  enjoyment  of  beauty,  and  but  for  the  mind,  there 
could  be  no  such  feeling  or  idea  of  beauty;  in  proof  of 
which,  a  blind  man  might  live  forever  without  an  idea  or 
enjoyment  of  a  sunset,  nor  could  the  sunset  enjoy  itself, 
or  pronounce  itself  beautiful — the  cause  is  in  the  cloud, 
and  the  feeling  or  idea  in  the  mind.  In  short,  he  might, 
with  as  much  philosoj)hic  propriety,  have  asked,  is  the 
cause  an  effect,  or  is  the  effect  a  cause  ?  He  says :  "  Beauty  is 
a  distinct  and  intmtWe  faculty,  and  not  dependent  upon  our 
feelings,  sensations,  or  emotions."    O,  how  ludicrous,  when 


FACULTY.  ^  151 

feeling  is  the  mind  itself  which  enjoys  the  beautiful !  He 
again  asks :  "  Is  taste  a  matter  of  feeling,  or  is  it  an  intel- 
lectual discernment?  evidently  we  can  not  depend  upon 
authority  for  the  decision  of  this  question,  since  authors 
differ;  evidently  we  must  refer  the  ideas  in  question,  of 
taste,  to  the  intellectual,  since  it  does  not  belong  to  the 
sensitive  part  of  our  nature."  Surprising  it  is,  that  even 
a  tyro  should  ask  such  a  question,  for  the  intellect  itself 
is  feeling;  but  admit  them,  falsely,  to  be  separate  beings, 
as  Haven  does,  how  is  the  intellect  to  discern  without 
feeling?  "Where  can  that  part  of  our  nature  be  which  is 
not  sensitive  and  without  feeling?  By  it  we  live,  move, 
and  have  our  being — by  it  we  feel,  think,  will,  and  act, 
and  without  it  we  are  dead.  As,  however,  he  makes  the 
feeling  and  discernment  of  beauty  and  sublimity  a  sepa- 
rate and  independent  faculty,  without  feeling,  we  must 
infer  its  independence  of  the  mind  itself!  and,  conse- 
quently, without  the  pale  of  mental  philosophy  and  the 
science  of  the  feeling  or  sensitive  soul ;  and  thus  it  would 
appear  that  Haven  has  taught,  as  did  Professor  Alexander, 
that  the  soul  is  not  responsible  for  acts  of  the  will,  nor  any 
other  of  those  independent  faculties!  In  treating  of  con- 
science, or  a  knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  under  the 
above  treatise,  he  again  asks:  "Does  the  cognition  of 
right  belong  to  the  rational  or  to  the  sensitive  part  of 
our  nature;  to  the  domain  of  intellect,  or  of  feeling;  a 
judgment,  or  an  emotion?"  What  a  jumbled  folly!  Is 
not  cognition  a  necessary  part  of  our  nature?  Is  not 
the  domain  of  intellect  a  sensitive  part  of  our  nature? 
Is  not  feeling  a  sensitive  part  of  our  nature?  and  is  not 
judgment  and  emotion  a  sensitive  part  of  our  nature? 

To  relievo  the  reader  from  the  farther  pursuit  of  such 
abHurditics,  I  will  say  to  him,  that  taste  is  the  mind 
tasting,  and  not  confined,  as  Haven  would  have  it,  to 
]>ainting  and  stattiary,  nor  is   it,  as   he   says,  a  H('|)arate 


152  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF   MIND. 

and  independent  faculty,  but  simply  a  mode  of  the  same 
mind,  in  every  possible  case;  whether  of  nature  or  of  art, 
of  bacon  and  cabbage,  or  of  roast  turkey ;  for  I  ask  what 
it  is  that  tastes  but  the  mind?  Call  the  tastes  of  our 
appetites  low,  vulgar,  brutal,  or  what  you  please,  it  is  all 
mind,  intellect,  soul ;  for  without  mind  we  could  not  relish 
or  enjoy  anything,  nor  make  choice  of  that  which  suits  us 
best;  so  that  a  choice  and  act  of  will,  declares  a  mind 
which  makes  the  choice  and  wills  to  act.  And  now,  in 
fine,  I  will  say,  that  the  mind  is  not  governed,  in  this  or 
any  other  case,  by  those  exotic  things  called  faculties,  but 
is  led  to  its  choice,  wills  and  acts,  by  the  objects  of  its 
choice.  Suppose  you  cast  your  eye  upon  a  gorgeous  sun- 
set, as  Haven  says,  and  enjoy  it,  where  the  necessity  of 
a  faculty,  aside  from  the  simple  perception  of  the  mind 
itself,  through  the  sense  of  sight,  any  more  than  for  every 
other  sense  and  enjoyment  of  the  mind?  You  see  a 
pleasing  object,  and  the  mind  enjoys  it;  you  smell  a 
pleasing  odor,  and  the  same  mind  enjoys  it;  you  hear 
sweet  music,  and  the  same  mind  enjoys  it;  you  shiver 
with  cold,  and  the  same  mind  suffers;  enter  a  room  of 
soothing  warmth,  and  the  same  mind  enjoys  it.  Yes,  and 
well-flavored  wine  you  may  take  with  a  gusto,  and  the 
very  same  identical  mind  enjoys  it.  How  ridiculous,  then, 
to  assert  different  minds  and  bewildering  faculties  for  the 
different  senses,  which  all  point  alike,  to  the  one  indi- 
visible and  observing  mind !  To  dwell  no  longer  upon 
the  gross  and  vexatious  errors  of  authors,  I  refer  the 
reader  to  Haven's  text-book,  as  a  fair  specimen  of  all 
others ;  where  he  will  see  a  hundred  faculties,  and  a  thou- 
sand elements  of  faculties,  in  his  analyses,  that  are  dog- 
gedly drudged  and  drilled  into  the  student's  mind,  already 
crammed  with  other  follies ;  but  still  he  is  bound,  like  the 
parrot,  to  senselessly  answer! 

And  thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  preaching  and  teaching 


FACULTY.  153 

of  artificial  minds,  for  more  than  two  thousand  years,  have 
only  served  to  darken  the  subject  and  make  man  the 
greatest  enemy  of  man, — all  the  church  divisions,  perse- 
cutions, and  bloody  wars  being  derived  from  the  union  of 
theology  and  a  false  psychology.  Haven  says,  "Evidently 
we  can  not  depend  upon  authority  for  the  nature  of  mind, 
since  authors  differ  so  much  in  their  doctrines  upon  this 
subject."  And  Hamilton  says,  "If  preachers  and  teachers 
had  not,  by  their  learned  ignorance  and  conceited  arrogance, 
transcended  what  God  saw  proper  to  reveal,  preaching 
and  teaching  would  have  been  simple  and  true,  and  the 
morals  of  mankind  and  peace  of  society  improved."  And 
yet,  it  is  strange  to  see  that  both  Haven  and  Hamilton  arc 
servile  copyists  of  the  old  stereotyped  errors,  founded  on 
superstition  and  a  religious  fanaticism,  called  a  divyie 
conscience — a  selfish,  bigoted  creature,  the  degrader  and 
destroyer  both  of  religion  and  science.  Yes,  and  when 
such  men  fill  every  pulpit  and  literary  institution  in  the 
world,  it  is  no  longer  a  wonder  that  falsehood  should  be 
forced  by  authority,  as  it  was  upon  wiser  heads  than  ours 
during  the  days  of  Greece  and  Rome;  and  I  feel  well 
assured,  from  my  knowledge  of  the  human  mind,  that  the 
same  authority  which  now  gives  faith  to  the  vai'ied  and 
endless  creeds  of  the  world,  could  re-establish  the  heathen 
mythology,  and  pin  it  down  upon  the  duped  and  craven 
credulity  of  mankind!  O,  how  sad,  how  degrading  and 
low  is  the  taint  and  tendency  of  human  idolatry! 


154  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP   MIND. 


CONSCIENCE. 


Conscience,  as  taught  in  our  modern  schools,  is  2i  faculty 
or  divinity  within  us  which,  in  all  cases,  tells  us  what  is  right 
and  what  is  wrong,  and  should  be  implicitly  obeyed  as  an 
infallible  monitor.  This  doctrine,  though  maintained  by 
the  best  of  men,  and  for  the  best  of  purposes,  is  in  reality 
the  doctrine  of  Satan,  who  has  caused  those  advocates  of 
the  doctrine  to  fight  each  other  with  fire  and  sword,  and, 
as  the  divine  Doctor  Scott  says,  ^'■spit  hellfire  at  each  other." 
This  sacred  monitor  not  only  tells  us  that  we  are  right, 
but  points  out  the  errors  of  others  against  whom  we  are 
conscientiously  bound  to  use  our  best  exertions,  and  even  to 
punish  and  put  to  death  all  who  will  not  obey  our  dicta- 
tions, creeds,  and  commands.  Every  man  on  earth  is 
said  to  possess  this  unerring  divinity,  and  yet,  what  is 
truly  marvelous,  every  one  is  commanded,  on  the  pain 
of  death,  to  yield  his  divinity  as  false  to  that  of  others. 
This  paradoxical  and  wonderful  thing,  conscience,  that  tells 
us  what  is  right  and  what  is  wrong,  what  is  just  and  what 
is  unjust,  becomes  the  cruel  persecutor  of  the  Christian 
Church,  under  which  Michael  Servetus,  John  Eogers,  and 
thousands,  yes,  millions  of  the  most  pious  men  on  earth 
have  bled  and  died.  Leaving  the  Christian  world  for  the 
great  arena  of  common  life,  we  find  this  divine  conscience 
deceiving  men,  and  engaged  in  the  most  malicious  and 
cruel  strifes.  The  man  of  observation  has  but  to  look  at 
the  little  transactions  around  him,  and  see  the  disputes, 
suits,  and  hard  thoughts  among  the  best  and  most  consci- 
entious of  his  neighbors.  We  have  seen  this  unerring 
divinity  in  the  prompting  of  men's  deeds  under  the  terrors 


CONSCIENCE.  155 

of  the  inquisition,  and  I  will  spend  but  a  few  sentences  in 
showincT  the  reader  that  the  desertion  of  reason  for  a 
m^'Stic  theology,  founded  upon  this  vacillating  and  decep- 
tive thing,  conscience^  has  produced  all  the  wild  ravings 
and  confusion  in  the  science  of  psychology  and  the  pi'O- 
fession  of  religion. 

It  appears  that  psychology  (the  science  of  the  soul,  or 
metaphysics)  and  theology  have  been  inseparably  con- 
nected from  the  eaidiest  dawn  of  this  science,  so  much  so 
that  the  churches,  from  age  to  age  have  been  convulsed 
and  sjilit  asunder  by  the  books  that  have,  from  time  to 
time,  been  issued  upon  this  subject,  as  though  God's  holy 
and  inspired  Word  was  to  be  in  subordination  to  the  wild 
and  fanatical  sallies  of  uninspired  men.  This  is  undeni- 
ably so,  and  so  much  so  that  my  whole  aim  in  this  inves- 
tigation is  to  show  the  misconceived  duty  and  consum- 
mate folly  of  the  clergy  in  leaving  the  plain  and  practical 
precepts  of  the  Bible,  and  entering  the  fields  of  distract- 
ing and  interminable  disputation. 

Having  no  room  for  quotations,  and  preferring  histor- 
ical facts  and  sound  reasoning  to  all  authority,  I  will  give 
but  a  few  sentences  from  Morell's  History  of  Moral  Phi- 
losophy, to  show  the  vacillation  and  confusion  of  mental 
science. 

"  What,  then,  is  the  next  stage  to  which  the  human  mind 
advanced  after  sensationalism,  idealism,  and  skepticism 
had  exhausted  their  resources,  and  left  all  in  doubt?" 
The  rcsoui'cc,  we  answer,  in  which  the  mind,  the  last  of 
all,  takes  refuge,  is  mysticism.  Reason  and  reflection 
have  apparently  set  forth  all  their  power  and  ended  in 
uncertainty.  The  mystic  thereupon  rises  to  view,  and 
says  to  tlie  i-est  of  the  ])hilosophers  around  liiiii  :  Ye  have 
all  alike  mistaken  the  road;  ye  have  sought  for  truth 
from  a  totally  incorrect  source,  and  entirely  overlooked 
the    one   divine    element  within    ycju    (conscience)  from 


156  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP   MIND. 

which  alone  it  can  be  derived.  Eeason  is  imperfect.  It 
halts  and  stumbles  at  every  step  when  it  would  penetrate 
into  the  deeper  recesses  of  pure  and  absolute  truth.  But 
look  within  you.  Is  there  not  a  spiritual  nature  there 
that  allies  you  with  the  spiritual  world?  Is  there  not  an 
enthusiasm  which  arises  in  all  its  enero-ies  when  reason 
grows  calm  and  silent  ?  Is  there  not  a  light  that  envel- 
opes all  the  faculties  if  you  will  only  give  yourself  up  to 
your  better  feelings,  and  listen  to  the  voice  of  God  (con- 
science) that  speaks  and  stirs  within  you." 

Thus,  as  I  have  said,  we  are  taught  to  listen  to  and 
obey  the  "god  that  speaks  and  stirs  within  us."  Yes, 
this  vagabond  and  lying  god,  which  has  produced  all  the 
persecutions,  church  divisions,  and  wars  of  the  world ; 
the  father  of  Buddhism,  Mahometanism,  Catholicism, 
Protestantism,  and  the  innumerable  brood  of  isms,  cisms, 
and  dogmatisms  of  adverse  and  warring  creeds  of  men  ; 
the  god  who  crucified  Christ  of  old,  and  has  caused  his 
ministers  to  crucify  him  anew  ;  the  God  of  mythology, 
of  soothsaying,  and  of  astrology ;  yes,  and  who  stirs  up 
ghosts  and  sight-seeing;  who  heads  mobs,  causes  wars, 
stampedes  amongst  mules  and  horses,  and  great  revivals 
amongst  men.  A  lying  god,  who  makes  us  conscious  to- 
day that  it  deceived  us  on  yesterday. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  doctrine  of  an  internal  and  uner- 
ring monitor,  superior  to  reason,  is  but  the  offspring  of 
a  chimerical  and  frenzied  fanaticism,  and  as  the  ghosts  and 
phantoms  of  midnight  vanish  before  the  rising  sun,  must 
these  morbid  musings  vanish  before  the  light  of  reason. 
Where,  I  ask,  in  the  name  of  the  great  and  good  God, 
is  this  sacred  and  intuitive  monitor  when  one  Christian 
drags  the  other  to  the  stake?  Are  they  not  both  prompted 
by  the  same  unerring  divinity  to  the  most  unhallowed 
and  malignant  deeds?  This  doctrine  is  opj^osed  to  reason, 
and  so  is  Satan ;  for  well  he  knows  that  earthly  thrones 


CONSCIENCE.  157 

have  tumbled,  and  demon  oppression,  with  all  its  Gorgon 
forms,  has  fled  before  the  voice  of  reason;    nor  can  the 
tricks  of  papal  sorcery,  or  the  wiles  of  the  devil  himself 
stand  against  the  might  and  majesty  of  reason. 

In  closing  this  article,  (conscience),  let  me  say  it  is  simply 
the  mind  being  conscious  of  whatever  we  think  or  do  To 
have  a  conscience  is  to  be  conscious  of  a  thing,  and  to  be  con- 
scious of  a  thing,  is  to  know  a  thing,  believe  it,  think  it  so, 
to  be  assured  of  it,  to  judge  it  so,  to  have  reason  to  believe 
it  so,  to  be  confirmed,  persuaded,  or  convinced  of  it ;  in 
fine,  to  feel  that  it  is  so,  for  feeling  is  the  soul,  and  the 
soul  is  feeling,  as  we  can  not  be  conscious  of  a  thing  with- 
out feeling  it,  nor  feel  and  know  it  without  being  con- 
scious of  it.  Now  all  this,  though  undeniable,  is  attempted 
to  be  evaded  by  a  name,  such  as  a  moral  sense,  an  original 
and  intuitive /acM^^j/  of  right  and  wrong;  yes,  and  which 
gives  us  a  knowledge  of  our  personal  identity,  making  it 
the  only  divine  faculty  of  self-knowledge  we  possess.  I 
will  here  say  to  such  faculty  writers  who  deny  to  the 
brute  a  soul,  that  if  this  intuitive  faculty,  as  they  call  it, 
of  self-knowledge  and  personal  identity  be  divine,  the 
brute  has  it  in  common  with  man  ;  for  when  did  a  cat 
or  dog,  though  belligerent  by  nature,  ever  fall  aboard  and 
maim  themselves  in  mistake  for  another  simply  because 
they  know  themselves  to  be  themselves  and  not  another. 
It  is  this  parade  of  names  without  meaning,  and  distinc- 
tions without  a  difference  which  has  produced  all  the 
confusion,  and  obscurity,  and  perplexity  in  mental  sci- 
ence, when  the  mind,  in  reality,  is  a  simple  unit  with- 
out a  single  faculty  or  power  belonging  to  it;  all  the 
faculties,  so  called,  being  nothing  more  than  different 
modes  of  mind  under  the  influence  of  objects  that  ingross 
it,  which  objects,  and  the  ideas  of  those  objects,  it  has  no 
power  to  resist.  For  instance,  if  sugar  be  put  into  the 
mouth,  the  mind  has  no  power  to  resist  the  impression  and 


158  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF    MIND. 

idea  of  sweetness,  or  sourness  from  vinegar ;  and  just  so 
with  all  objects  tiiat  operate  upon  the  mind.  This  crea- 
ture, conscience,  so  much  harped  upon,  is  nothing  but  the 
division  of  the  mind,  which  division  is  wholly  the  result 
of  education,  and  the  nature  of  objects  that  impress  the 
mind.  Were  I,  if  educated  as  a  savage,  to  burn  my 
enemies,  I  should  be  impressed  with  a  right ;  that  is,  I 
should  have  an  approbating  conscience ;  but  if  otherwise 
educated,  I  should  have  a  guilty  conscience.  To  call  this 
creature  of  education  an  original  faculty,  an  intuitive 
monitor,  and  to  give  it  (as  is  done)  priority  and  supe- 
riority over  all  the  other  faculties,  is  truly  ludicrous ;  as 
being  one  of  the  many  modes  of  mind,  it  can  have  no 
priority  or  superiority  over  the  mind  itself,  or  any  of  its 
other  modes — faculties — as  fiddling,  dancing,  laughing, 
and  crying  are  equally  old,  and  all  but  modes  of  the 
same  mind. 


WHAT  AND  WHENCE  IS  MIND  ? 


Sir  Isaac  ISTowton,  after  tracing  the  laws  of  gravita- 
tion from  its  gentle  hand  upon  the  falling  apple  to  its 
mighty  grasp  upon  distant  worlds  that  roll  their  bidden 
and  eternal  way  through  trackless  space,  when  asked 
what  was  gravitation,  answered,  that  he  knew  no  more 
than  the  ploughman  of  the  field.  And  with  like  humil- 
ity we  have  to  answer  in  regard  to  the  mind — knowing 
nothing  of  its  essence ;  yet,  as  in  the  case  of  gravitation, 
we  can  trace  its  laws  from  the  gentle  smile  of  the  little 
babe  to  the  fiendish  scowl  of  those  demon  monsters  of 
persecution.     That  mind  is  like  the  body  (a  forced  state) 


MIND.  159 

no  one  will  deny,  and  that  it  would  soon  die  out  from  the 
world  without  support  from  the  body,  and,  in  like  manner, 
would  the  body  as  quickly  die  out  without  food,  as  would 
a  lamp  without  oil,  or  a  fire  without  fuel.  We  can  as 
certainly  trace  the  origin  of  mind  back  to  Adam  as  we 
can  body — it  being,  as  is  the  body,  a  seminal  secretion ; 
or,  otherwise,  when,  and  how,  and  by  whom  are  minds 
made?  and  when,  and  how,  and  by  whom  are  they  put 
into  the  body?  We  see  that  mind  comes  into  the  world 
with  the  body;  that  it  grows  and  strengthens  with  the 
body;  suffers  disease  and  infirmity  with  the  body,  and 
dies  and  disappears  from  this  world  with  the  body.  We 
also  see  as  many  hereditary  traits  of  mind  as  of  body — 
showing  its  dependence  upon  its  archetypes,  on  and  on 
to  Adam ;  and  if  this  be  not  so,  how  can  God  hold  the 
mind  bound  for  Adam's  sin  ?  If  new  minds  come  fresh 
from  God's  own  hands  (say  forty  millions  a  year,  for  it 
seems  that  that  many  new  bodies  come  into  the  world) 
it  certainly  can  not  be  that  so  kind  a  Father,  who  creates 
these  new  children"  by  the  hour,  will  send  them  to  hell  for 
Adam's  sin  when  they  are  in  no  way  akin  to  him. 

It  must  not  be  here  understood  that  I  believe  mind  to 
be  perishable  matter ;  for  I  feel  assured  that  it  will  live 
beyond  the  grave,  as  it  is  pledged  by  Almighty  Power 
to  be  immortal.  The  body,  we  know,  is  dissolved  into 
its  original  elements,  and  goes  into  the  laboratory  of 
transmutation,  to  again  be  paraded  out  in  new  forms 
by  the  plastic  and  reviviscent  hand  of  nature ;  which 
fact,  no  doubt,  gave  to  Pythagoras  and  Zoroaster  the 
idea  of  the  transmigration  of  souls.  Some  of  the  most 
pious  divines,  however,  have  maintained  that  the  mind 
was  the  result  of  the  organization  of  matter;  but  concern- 
ing such  speculations  we  have  no  occasion  for  uneasiness, 
us  it  is  just  as  easy  for  God  to  make  matter  immortal  as 
to  resurrect  and  reanimate  the  body,  as  he  has  solemnly 


160  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF   MIND. 

vouched  to  man  he  will  do.  Dr.  Priestley  and  his  school 
of  divines  contend  for  the  materiality  of  mind,  as  more 
rational  and  consistent  with  the  wisdom  and  power  of 
Grod  than  the  complicated  and  incongruous  union  of 
spirit  (of  which  we  know  nothing)  and  matter. 

This  much,  and  this  only,  we  know :  that  the  mind  is 
born  into  the  world  as  blank  as  a  sheet  of  paper — with- 
out the  knowledge  of  anything ;  but  soon,  and  by  the 
sensibilities  God  has  given  it,  it  is  impressed,  through 
the  senses,  with  everything  around  it,  and  by-and-by 
becomes  intelligent.  We  have  no  self-creating  power 
within  the  mind,  and  from  the  teachings  of  such  false 
doctrines  as  mental  omniscience,  or  self-creating  powers, 
may  be  traced  all  the  unfortunate  difficulties  in  regard  to 
religion,  in  moral  science,  yes,  and  in  politics,  which  have 
rent  society  and  perplexed  the  world  for  centuries  past. 
If  we  will  honestly  grant  the  fact  of  our  own  limited 
destiny,  of  God's  supremacy,  and  of  his  wise  laws,  and 
his  steadfast  government  over  mind,  over  body,  over  his 
vast  and  harmonious  universe  —  yes,  over  all  created 
things,  to  which  he  has  given  laws  to  keep  them  in 
their  alloted  spheres  and  make  them  what  they  are — 
we  shall  be  better  satisfied  with  ourselves,  with  our 
neighbors,  and  with  the  dispensations  of  Providence; 
for  all  will  be  by  the  will  of  God,  who,  in  his  wise  and 
preconceived  plans,  saw  what  man  can  not — that  these 
laws  would  work  with  undeviating  certainty  (fate)  for 
the  best. 

As  I  have  said,  if  we  will  grant,  what  we  can  not 
honestly  deny,  that  God  created  all  things,  gave  them 
laws  and  bounds  —  leaving  nothing  to  a  self-creating 
power,  or  to  chance  —  the  enigma  of  mind  is  at  once 
solved ;  for  we  have  nothing  more  to  do  than  simply 
observe  (as  in  the  case  of  the  begetting  of  children 
under   God's    laws   of   procreation)   how   our   ideas   are 


MIND.  161 

begotten  by  the  laws  of  mentality.  Against  these 
established  and  sealed  ordinances  of  the  Almighty, 
however,  men  have  rebelled,  and  given  to  themselves 
a  self-creating  power,  by  will  —  a  power  that  the  God 
of  heaven  can  not  himself  possess;  as  for  a  thing  to 
act  and  bring  itself  into  existence  before  itself  had  an 
existence  is  wholly  incompatible;  and  hence,  it  is  held 
by  all  sound  thinkers,  that  God  is  not  self-created,  but 
self-existent  from  all  eternity;  and  these  fundamental 
facts  I  shall  often  recur  to  in  these  essays. 

Man,  if  he  will  but  see  himself  aright,  must  know 
that  ho  is  but  a  fated  link  in  the  firm  and  eternal 
chain  of  causality — ^that  all  things  originate  and  term- 
inate in  God,  who  gave  the  first  impulse  to  life  and 
motion,  and  who  holds  firm  and  fast  the  two  ends  of 
this  vast  and  unbroken  chain  that  binds  his  mighty 
universes  in  one  harmonious  whole,  and  in  their  bidden 
and  eternal  rounds.  Thus  it  is,  I  hold,  that  the  power 
and  wisdom  of  God  forbids  the  idea  that  he  has  created 
anything  in  vain,  left  anything  to  chance,  or  put  it  in 
the  power  of  any  being  to  disappoint  him,  frustrate  his 
plans,  or  thwart  his  preconceived  designs  in  the  final 
issue  of  all  things. 

Authors  speak  largely  of  the  powers  of  mind,  which 
word  figures  powerfully  throughout  their  powerful  big 
books  on  mental  philosophy.  This  term,  power,  as 
applied  to  mind,  is  as  a  solecism  in  language,  and  a 
gross  absurdity  in  nature ;  and  has  always  misled  the 
pupil  in  the  study  of  mental  philosophy.  Man  has  no 
power  but  that  of  yielding  to  his  fate  ;  he  has  the  power 
of  being  born,  the  power  of  getting  sick,  and  the  jiower  of 
dying;  he  has  the  power  of  digestion,  a  thing  ho  knows 
nothing  about;  and  the  power  of  seeing  and  hearing, 
and  Hin(Oling,  etc.,  which  ho  can  not  lu-lp  any  more 
than    (ho   rontr;K-1ion   of  Iiis   luiirt ,  ninl    IIm-    i-cin'witi<^  of 


162  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

his  exhausted  strength  by  the  vital  functions  within. 
Yes,  and  he  has  the  power  of  pleasure  and  pain,  and  of 
love  and  hatred,  with  the  myriad  of  impressions  that 
may  be  forced  upon  him.  The  mind  has  the  power 
which  a  vessel  has  to  receive,  or  the  wax  has,  not  to 
shape  itself,  but  to  be  put  in  many  shapes,  and  to  receive 
endless  impressions.  The  mirror  has  power,  not  to  make, 
but  to  reflect  impressions;  and  the  blank. paper  has 
power  to  receive  impressions,  and  when  those  impres- 
sions are  made,  has  the  power  of  exhibiting  a  vast 
amount  of  intelligence.  Gold  has  the  power  of  being 
gold,  and  the  cannon-ball  has  immense  power  with  the 
common  observer,  yet  it  is  a  cold,  lifeless  lump  of  iron, 
with  no  intrinsic  power  to  create  itself  or  move  itself  by 
its  own  will,  yet  (by  this  false  term,  power,)  has  the 
power  of  being  moved.  A  man  has  the  power  of  being 
put  in  prison,  and  of  doing  all  other  things  which  he  is 
forced  to  do ;  and  in  like  manner  has  he  the  power 
(forced  liberty)  of  being  impressed  by  the  surrounding 
objects  and  circumstances,  amidst  which  he  is  placed,  and 
by  which  he  "lives,  moves,  and  has  his  being."  Thus  it 
will  be  seen,  by  the  most  common  observer,  that  there  is 
nothing  self-created  or  self-moved,  either  in  mind  or 
matter,  but  all  is  cause  and  eifect,  dualistic  and  dynamic. 
The  cannon-ball,  for  instance  did  not  create  itself  or 
move  itself,  but  was  sent  by  the  explosion  of  powder, 
which  powder  did  not  create  itself,  nor  could  it  explode 
itself.  Grod  made  the  materials,  and  man  the  powder  by 
his  will,  which  will  was  created  and  moved  by  an 
antecedent  and  motive  cause. 

These  are  great  and  vital  facts  but  little  understood, 
yet  they  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  science,  morality  and 
religion — facts  that  the  self-stultified  pedant  can  not  see, 
yet,  upon  which  little  children,  not  yet  demented  by  art, 
base  their  thoughts.     T  have  been  asked  by  those  not  five 


MIND.  163 

years  old,  who  made  the  toy-man?  who  made  the  horse? 
and  when  answered  God,  then,  who  made  God  ?  thus 
ascending  in  the  inductive  order  ft'om  effect  to  cause. 
Yes,  and  right  here,  by-the-by,  does  the  immortality  of 
Lord  Bacon  rest ;  for  his  labors,  in  reality,  were  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  to  bring  philosophy,  which  had  been 
lost  by  ignorant  learning  in  word  and  art,  back  to  nature, 
(its  true  foundation,  laid  by  God  himself)  the  child's  order 
of  induction. 

I  have  in  part,  and  will  more  fully  show,  that  man 
is  brought  into  this  world  without  his  knowledge  or 
conBent ;  that  he  is  borne  through  the  transit  of  life 
by  the  laws  of  necessity,  and  that  his  exit  from  time 
to  eternity  is  determined  and  fixed  by  the  indissoluble 
chain  of  causality.  The  life  itself  is  a  forced  state,  and 
would,  as  I  have  said,  die  out  as  quickly  without  the  vital 
air  and  the  food  that  develoj^s  and  nourishes  it,  as  would 
the  flame  without  the  fuel  which  sustains  it.  That 
thought,  in  like  manner,  has  no  independent,  substantial 
existence  apart  from  its  causes.  It  is  an  effect,  a  result ; 
it  is  relative,  it  is  conditional,  it  is  the  product  of  subjec- 
tive and  objective  unity.  It  is  like  life,  has  no  inti'insic, 
or  real,  or  prior  existence  ;  but  is  a  begotten  thing,  a  new 
creation,  and,  in  turn,  is  possessed  of  creative  powers. 
The  powder,  for  instance,  has  an  existence  when  made, 
and  the  spark,  or  fire,  has  a  begotten  existence,  but 
explosion,  in  like  manner,  is  a  new  creation,  a  result,  the 
product  by  the  union  of  both  ;  but  when  thus  begotten 
becomes  a  real,  but  momentary  entity — a  power  and  a 
cause  of  other  results.  In  like  manner,  the  child  is  not 
a  real  and  independent  entity — is  an  effect,  a  product, 
a  result  of  the  union  of  father  and  mother,  or  a  subject 
and  an  object;  but  there  was  a  gcrn"!  from  Adam  in  the 
father  and  the  soil  in  th(!  mother.  '^PliiH  \h  (Ik;  ease  in 
all  organic  cxistenceK.     The  grain  ofulienl  Ihal  has  been 


164  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND, 

enveloped  with  the  mummies  of  Egypt,  for  three  thou- 
sand years,  and  from  which  whole  fields  of  wheat  have 
sprung,  would  have  remained  throughout  all  time  with- 
out the  stimulus  of  light,  heat,  moisture  and  soil  to  force 
it  into  existence  and  develop  its  intrinsic  and  inhe- 
rent nature.  Just  so  with  mind,  which  would  remain 
forever  without  ideas,  unless  it  came  in  contact  with 
the  objects  that  develop  their  appropriate  ideas.  For 
instance,  a  horse  begets  the  idea  of  a  horse,  and  a  cow 
that  of  a  cow,  the  table,  book,  and  ink-stand  before  me 
each  beget  their  ideas  of  a  table,  book,  and  ink-stand. 
In  positive  proof  of  these  facts  we  have  but  to  know  that 
a  blind  man  has  no  idea  of  colors,  and  can  not  distin- 
guish white  from  black ;  but  open  his  eyes  and  place  these 
objects  before  him,  and  he  can  not,  to  save  his  life,  help 
but  see  them  and  know  them.  Thus  he  has  a  knowledge 
of  white  and  black,  and,  8imj)le  as  it  is,  it  is  the  great 
secret  of  how  we  receive  all  our  ideas,  or  knowledge, 
of  every  possible  kind,  on  which  thousands  of  immense 
volumes  have  been  written.  Our  senses  are  the  only 
inlets  to  knowledge,  and  valid  witnesses  to  the  soul, 
which  could  never  become  intelligent,  nor  ever  know 
anything  but  by  their  aid.  The  eye  can  not  hear,  nor  the 
ear  see,  but  each  sense  is  wisely  and  beautifully  fitted 
to  its  appropriate  objects.  Suppose  one  coming  into 
the  world  deprived  of  all  his  senses  but  feeling  (without 
which  it  could  not  live),  he  would  be  below  an  idiot, 
and  on  a  level  with  the  oyster.  Think,  then,  what  is 
mind,  and  how  it  is  developed  ;  yes,  and  where  those 
innate  and  divine  ideas  are  that  make  us  so  intelligent 
without  study,  and  give  us  all  our  knowledge  of  truth 
and  falsehood,  and  of  wright  and  wrong,  as  we  are  falsely 
taught  by  our  text-books  in  our  modern  colleges. 

We   have   many  actual    and   undeniable   facts   in   full 
proof  of  all  I  say,  and  one  more  particularly  striking. 


MIND.  165 

of  a  deaf  man  in  Paris,  who  was  restored  to  hearing 
by  the  jar  of  his  brain  and  nervous  system  ft'om  the 
sound  of  artillery.  He  soon  acquired  language,  and  told 
that  he  had  no  knowledge  of  a  God,  or  that  he  should 
ever  die,  and  when  he  saw  funeral  processions  and  herses 
pass,  he  could  not  think  what  they  meant.  Thus  we 
see  the  amount  of  knowledge  the  loss  of  a  single  sense,  in 
the  beginning  of  life,  deprives  us. 

The  mind  is  a  unit — it  is  one  and  indivisible,  and 
yet  do  authors  divide  it  into  many  parts,  powers,  faculties, 
and  so  on,  making  it  so  mystic  and  complicated  by 
confused  and  unmeaning  terms,  as  to  render  it  incom- 
patible with  itself  and  wholly  incomprehensible  to  the 
pupil.  I  have  shown  that  the  aggregate  mind  has  no 
power  but  to  receive  and  be  subject  to  impressions, 
and  if  they  can  divide  mind  into  many  parts,  giving 
to  each  external,  internal,  and  all  sorts  of  powers,  they 
can  make  a  part  greater  than  the  whole,  a  thing  settled 
by  science  to  be  impossible.  To  the  faculties  they  enu- 
merate we  might  add  the  faculties  of  love,  of  hatred,  of 
crying  and  laughing,  of  fiddling  and  dancing,  and  of 
ten  thousand  other  emotions  and  passions  of  soul,  all 
of  which  are  mere  modes  of  mind,  produced  by  the 
nature  of  objects  that  excite  them.  These  powers  are 
lying  sounds,  without  an  archetype,  they  are  words 
without  meaning,  pretending  a  diiference  where  there 
is  no  distinction,  and  only  calculated  to  confuse  and 
mislead  the  reader.  At  every  turn  of  the  mind,  like  that 
of  the  kaleidoscope,  there  is  a  new  form  or  mode  that 
might  have  a  new  name  for  countless  millions  of  times. 
The  mind,  like  the  wax,  is  a  simple  substratum  that  may 
be  shaped  to  many  forms,  and  stamped  with  endless 
imijreHHlons.  Sensation  alone  constitutes  that  substratum 
upon  which  the  whole  superstructure  of  mind  is  founded. 

Feeling,  alone,  gives  us  a  knowledge  of  nil  impressions, 

15 


166  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

and  of  everything  that  we  can,  by  any  possibility,  be  made 
acquainted  with.  Now,  from  sensation  arise  pleasure 
and  pain,  and  next  follow  desire  and  aversion,  which 
beget  a  will  to  do  or  not  to  do.  This,  simple  as  it  is, 
constitutes  the  whole  foundation  and  sum  total  of  the 
human  mind.  God  has  implanted  in  mankind,  univer- 
sally, a  desire  for  happiness  and  an  aversion  to  misery. 
This  is  steady,  uniform  and  innate — it  is  in  all  persons 
and  in  all  ages,  and  it  is  the  first  law  of  our  nature, 
and  assented  to  by  all.  God  has  so  insej)arably  united 
virtue  and  haj^piness  that  it  becomes  our  interest  to 
sustain  moral  rule — our  own  proj)erty,  life  and  liberty 
depending  upon  it.  From  this  arises  the  moral  sense,  or 
knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  for  feeling  we  do  not 
wish  others  to  inflict  pain  or  suffering  upon  us,  we  are 
equally  sure  that  others  would  not  that  we  should  wrong 
them.  Thus  sensation,  or  feeling,  begets  the  golden  rule 
to  "  do  unto  others  as  we  would  have  them  do  unto 
us."  Without  sensation  or  feeling  we  could  not  be  con- 
scious of  a  single  idea,  or  even  of  our  own  existence. 
Feeling  or  sensibility,  in  short,  is  the  distinguishing 
characteristic  and  high  boast  of  the  soul,  as  rendering 
it  susceptible  of  pleasure  and  pain,  and,  consequently,  the 
subject  of  rewards  and  punishments.  It  must  be  granted 
by  every  close  and  unbiased  observer  that  we  can  not 
be  conscious  of  a  thing  without  feeling  it,  nor  feel  and 
know  a  thing  without  being  conscious  of  that  thing. 
It  must  be,  then,  as  Mill  (author  of  Mill's  Logic)  says  : 
"Feeling  is  the  soul,  and  the  substratum  and  sum  total 
of  mind."  Again  he  says,  page  13-34:  "A  feeling  and 
a  state  of  consciousness  are  equivalent  expressions; 
everything  is  a  feeling  of  which  the  mind  is  conscious ; 
everything  which  it  feels,  or  in  other  words,  which  forms 
a  part  of  its  own  sentient  existence."  For  this  single 
sentiment    of   divine    truth  which    Mill    has    dared    to 


MINI).  167 

express  in  regard  to  mind  he  has  been  greatly  censured 
by  the  clergy.  Locke  has  suffered  the  same,  and  their 
pious  old  brother,  William  Paley,  author  of  Moral  Philo- 
sophy and  Natural  Religion,  has  been  shamelessly  slan- 
dered by  them. 

This  doctrine  they  call  sensationalism  and  utilitarian- 
ism, which  they  have  thrown  out  of  all  the  schools  and 
substituted  their  own  trashy  books,  made  up  of  words 
without  meaning  and  distinctions  without  a  difference. 
It  has  ever  been  a  marvel  to  me  how  men  professing  to 
be  the  ministers  of  God  could  so  traitorously  desert  the 
plain  truth  of  his  laws  of  nature  and  substitute  their 
own  complicated  and  arbitrary  inventions ;  nor  could  I 
credit  it  did  I  not  know  that  they  had  taken  the  simple 
and  plain  truths  of  God's  word  out  of  his  Bible,  and 
appropriated  them  to  their  own  selfish  and  party  pur- 
poses. Pupils  coming  out  of  such  schools  are  actually 
nothing  more  than  parrots  and  learned  pigs,  demented 
by  the  memory,  memoiy  of  learned  and  arbitrary  noth- 
ings, for  I  have  conversed  with  and  pitied  many  such 
graduates,  who  could  only  ansAv^er  my  text-book  so  and 
so,  just  as  a  child  will  naturally  answer:  "Daddy  says 
there  are  witches,  and  I  believe  it."  Were  students 
to  throw  away  such  manufactured  trash,  and  apply  their 
own  minds,  which  they  carry  with  them  by  day  and 
by  night,  to  nature,  and  objects  and  circumstances  around 
them  by  which  they  are  hourly  imj)ressed,  they  would 
soon  learn  how  they  gain  their  knowledge,  and  thus  be 
better  informed  than  any  mechanical  and  routine  book- 
teacher  in  the  world. 

Such  teachers  prefer  art  to  nature,  and  pertinaciously 
liolding  to  the  allegorical  and  enigmatical  mysticisms  of 
the  Bible,  gain  much  pelf  and  power  by  deep  learning, 
wonderfully  and  adniii'ubly  inconi])rehensible  to  the  (lu})ed 
and  craven  masses.     Tliis  is  certainly  so  (say  the  Protest- 


168  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND, 

ant  clergy)  with  the  Catholic  priesthood,  and,  I  am  sorry 
to  say,  there  are  but  few  exceptions  amongst  any  of  the 
profession.     But  to  the  argument.     I  have  aimed  to  show 
that  we  have  no  innate  ideas,  but  that  all  are  gained 
through   the  senses  —  each    idea  being   stamped    by   its 
specific  object;  vinegar,  for  instance,  makes  the  impres- 
sion of  sour,  and  sugar  of  sweet.     Nor  is  it  in  the  power 
of  the   mind,   with   all    its   wonderful    creative   powers 
(falsely  given)  to  alter  the  natm-e  of  Grod's  decrees,  of 
cause  and  effect — of  dualistic  and  dynamic  dependencies. 
Powder,  as  we  have  seen,  can  not  explode  itself,  wood 
can  not  burn  itself,  an  alkali  has  no  power  to  act  upon 
itself;  but  when  an  acid  is  applied  an  action  takes  place, 
and  the  result  is  a  new  creation  of  a  thing  that  is  neither 
one  nor  the  other.     Just  so  is  an  idea — a  new  creation, 
which  is  neither  the  mind  which  is  operated  upon,  nor 
the   object  that   operates   upon   the  mind.     An   idea   is 
begotten  by  the  subjective  and  objective  unity,  just  as  a 
child  is  by  the  union  of  the  father  and  mother.     The 
mind  operates  upon  nothing,  but  is  operated  upon   by 
everything.     It  has  simply,  like  the  mother,  a  capacity 
or  power  (excuse  the  word)  to  receive  and  to  conceive. 
The  body  does  not  operate  upon  medicine,  but  medicine, 
like  all   other  things,  operates   upon  the  body  —  tartar 
pukes  and  calomel   purges.     The  brain  and  nerves  do 
not  operate  upon  the  rusty  nail,  but  the  nail  operates 
upon  them  to  lock  the  jaw  in  death.     Our  sensibilities  do 
not  operate  upon  fire,  but  fire  operates  powerfully  upon 
them.     In  like  manner  do  all  things  operate  upon  the 
sensitive  mind,  which  has  no  liberty  or  choice  but  to  feel 
and  receive  things  as  they  are. 

Sir  William  Hamilton,  the  great  and  admired  philoso- 
pher of  the  day,  after  afiirming  that  the  labor  of  the  last 
two  thousand  years,  by  philosoj)her8  and  divines,  had 
only  served  to  darken  and  render  doubtful  the  subject  of 


MIND.  169 

mind,  and,  consequently,  condemning  them  all  en  masse, 
as  idle,  arrogant  and  presumptuous  speculators,  professes 
to  take  a  "plain  common  sense  "  view  of  the  subject ;  but 
strange  to  tell,  he  is  not  philosopher  enough  to  be  consis- 
tent with  himself,  for  he  sets  out  by  inventing  almost  a 
new  English  language,  and  to  make  it  plain,  intersperses 
it  with  all  manner  of  languages,  dead  and  living ;  and 
has  an  index  of  an  ordinary  volume.  But  a  big  book 
and  a  learned  book  it  is,  full  of  art,  with  little  simplicity 
or  common  sense.  The  only  instance,  I  think,  in  which 
he  condescends  to  descend  to  common  sense  or  common 
opinion,  is  in  regard  to  feeling,  in  which  case  he  is 
assuredly  mistaken.  He  takes  the  position,  that  the 
mind,  the  percipient  or  sentient  being  (all  the  same), 
has  no  particular  location  in  the  body,  but  is  diffused 
throughout  it ;  and  that  we  really  feel  at  our  fingers' 
ends  as  it  seems  we  do.  My  reason  for  saying  he  errs  in 
this,  is  that  we  may  take  off  arm  by  arm,  and  leg  by  leg, 
and  the  mind  will  remain  unimpaired.  Besides,  we  have 
many  instances  of  surgical  record,  where,  long  after 
having  an  extremity  taken  off  with  a  painful  ulcer  or 
broken  bone,  that  pain  was  felt  by  the  patient,  and 
complained  of,  showing  the  mind,  which  felt  that  pain, 
not  to  have  been  in  the  limb  severed  and  cast  away. 
This  is  a  matter  of  common  sense  and  of  demonstration, 
that  spoils  many  a  learned  and  beautiful  speculation.  I 
here  make  known  another  reason  why  the  mind  can  not 
belong  to  every  part  of  the  system,  as,  in  that  case,  each 
part  of  the  system  would  be  a  portion  of  the  mind  ;  and 
as  mind,  like  everything  else,  is  made  what  it  is  by  its 
parts,  taking  any  of  those  parts  from  it,  as  in  severing  a 
limb,  leaves  it  no  longer  what  it  was,  with  all  its  parts; 
otherwise  a  part  may  be  as  great  as  the  whole — a  thing 
held,  by  all  the  rules  of  science,  to  bo  impossible. 
Another   objection    to   the    learned    author's   divisibility 


170  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

of  mind,  is  tliat  all  the  senses  point  to  the  brain,  and 
all  the  nerves,  or  telegraphic  wires,  originate  in  the  brain, 
or  its  medulla  oblongata  and  spinal  cord.  In  short,  the 
mind  has  its  headquarters  in  the  head,  and  the  senses  are 
its  aids  and  sentinels  that  convey  to  it  all  its  information ; 
and  those  pickets,  or  messengers,  may  be  cut  off,  one  by 
one,  the  telegraijhic  wires  may  also  be  cut  or  destroyed, 
leaving  the  commander  wholly  without  information,  and 
yet  that  commander  may  live ;  for  the  mind,  as  I  have 
aimed  to  show,  has  an  existence  independent  of  the 
objective  world,  yet  it  is  dependent  upon  that  world 
for  all  its  information.  The  mind  may  be  compared  with 
a  violinist,  who  can  make  sweet  harmony  when  his 
instrument  is  sound  and  well  strung,  but  when  the 
strings  become  relaxed,  or,  one  after  another,  break,  the 
music  is  defective ;  but  even  the  instrument  itself  may 
be  broken,  and  the  violinist  live  independent  of  it. 

I  had  intended  to  hurry  on  with  my  own  views  of 
mind,  and  take  no  pai-ticular  notice  of  Sir  William's 
errors  (or  those  of  any  other  author),  but  as  he  is  the 
conventional  Hercules,  and  walking  dictionary  amongst 
artistic  and  ostentatious  pedagogues ;  yes,  and  a  living 
concordance  with  theologians,  I  am  more  inclined  to 
show  a  few  of  his  defects  in  science.  In  treating  of 
perception,  he  confounds  cause  and  effect,  and  makes 
them  one  and  the  same.  He  says,  that  in  perception  we 
receive  the  reality  of  objects  just  as  they  are — the  idea, 
in  other  words,  is  the  thing  itself.  That  there  is 
fragrance  in  a  rose,  sweetness  in  sugar,  heat  in  fire, 
and  so  on.  But  little  reflection  will  convince  us  that 
this  is  not  so,  and  why:  because  the  I'ose  might  exhale 
forever  without  the  idea  of  fragrance,  but  for  the  feeling 
mind  that  perceives  it ;  and  in  like  manner  might  the 
mind  remain  without  the  idea  of  a  rose,  if  no  rose  had 
ever  existed.     They  are  indeiicndent  of  each  other,  and 


MIND.  171 

have  no  resemblance  to  each  other ;  but  when  the  odorific 
particles  exhaled  from  the  rose  come  in  contact  with  the 
olfactories  of  the  mind,  there  is  a  new  creation,  an  idea, 
which  is  neither  the  rose  nor  the  mind.  That  there  is 
fragrance  in  a  rose,  which  can  not  smell  itself,  can  not 
be  true,  nor  can  the  rose  go  through  the  nerves  to  the 
mind,  to  be  potentially  or  concretely  there.  In  short, 
this  perception  of  fragrance  is  simply  an  effect,  and 
except  cause  and  effect  are  one  and  the  same,  the  idea  is 
neither  the  rose,  nor  the  exhalations  from  it.  We  see 
what  we  call  a  rose,  which  would  have  smelt  as  sweet  by 
any  other  name,  and  we  feel  a  certain  impression  from  it, 
which  we  call  fragrance ;  but  what  resemblance  that 
impression  bears  to  the  sight  of  the  rose  we  know  not, 
but  feel  assured  that  the  particles  themselves  bear  no 
resemblance  either  to  the  rose  or  to  the  idea  they 
produce :  and  farther,  that  a  blind«man  can  smell  the 
odor  without  seeing  or  knowing  anything  of  the  aj)j)ear- 
ance  of  a  rose.  All  perceptions  are  mere  sensations  or 
feelings,  and  I  hold  that  they  bear  no  more  resemblance 
to  the  objects  that  beget  them,  than  the  knife  does  to  the 
pain  it  produces  or  the  wound  it  inflicts.  Prick  the  hand 
and  there  is  at  once  a  pain,  and  an  idea  of  pain,  which  is 
not  the  pin,  nor  does  it  bear  any  resemblance  to  it ;  and 
80  it  is  with  all  other  percejitions.  The  nail  which  assails 
the  nerve  does  not  follow  the  nerve  up  to  the  brain,  or 
the  jaw  which  it  locks  (as  I  have  said  elsewhere)  in  death ; 
nor  does  the  effect  or  result  resemble  the  nail.  Light 
assails  the  eye,  and  sound  the  ear,  as  odors  do  the  olfac- 
tories, but  none  of  them  go  through  the  nerves  of  sense, 
or  enter  the  mind  in  their  formal  and  specific  nature. 
Wo  hear  a  drum  and  see  it,  but  the  idea  can  not  be  as 
big  as  the  drum,  nor  can  the  sound  resemble  the  drum. 
Fire  has  no  heat  in  it,  but  has  the  quality  of  producing 
a  sensation  of   pain,  whicli  wc    call    licat,  while  it  acts 


172  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

upon  a  sensitive  being;  but  the  fire  might  exist  alone 
forever,  and  no  such  perception,  pain,  or  idea  take 
place,  without  a  sentient  or  percipient  subject  to  be 
acted  upon.  So  it  is  seen  that  the  sensation  called 
heat  is  not  in  the  fire  (except  sensations  are  in  the  fire), 
a  thing  that  has  no  sensation  or  feeling  of  heat.  If  all 
things  which  produce  sensations  in  the  mind,  are  them- 
selves in  the  mind,  according  to  Sir  William,  we  must 
have  big  ideas  and  little  ideas,  black  and  white,  red 
and  blue,  crooked  and  straight,  round  and  angular,  sour, 
sweet,  and  bitter,  soft  and  hard,  etc.  I  have  no  thought 
that  the  idea  of  a  horse  is  larger  than  that  of  a  man,  for 
if  our  ideas  or  perceptions  bear  any  resemblance  or  pro- 
portion to  things  perceived,  the  idea  of  a  state,  a  whole 
continent,  or  the  ocean,  would  fill  the  mind,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  other  perceptions ;  and  yet  the  mind  can  receive 
the  whole  globe,  languages,  sciences,  and  millions  of  other 
things.  All  sensations  or  perceptions  are  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  the  result  of  a  subjective  and  objective 
unity,  and  this  result  bears  no  resemblance  either  to  the 
subject  or  the  object.  In  plainer  language,  our  ideas  are 
neither  the  mind  nor  the  objects  that  operate  upon  the 
mind.  For  instance,  muriatic  acid  is  not  table  salt,  nor 
is  soda  table  salt ;  but  put  them  together,  and  table  salt  is 
the  result — a  new  creation  which  resembles  neither ;  and 
just  so  it  is  with  our  ideas — they  are  results,  or  new 
creations,  through  the  agencies  of  mind  and  the  things 
that  operate  upon  the  mind.  In  the  language  of  philos- 
ophy, by  subjectivity  and  objectivity,  the  mind  being  the 
subject,  and  our  ideas  begotten  in  the  mind  are  the  effect 
of  objects.  It  is  idle  to  dispute,  as  has  been  done,  whether 
mind  or  matter  be  prior,  as  we  know  we  can  not  know 
without  a  mind  to  know,  and  as  knowledge  is  simply 
what  we  know,  the  objects  of  knowledge  must  be  prior 


MIND.  173 

to  knowledge.     Mind,  thought,  and  the  object  of  thought, 
simple  as  it  is,  is  the  sum  total  of  mind  and  its  knowledge. 
Another  obvious  mistake  with  Sir  William  in  his  order 
of  perception,  or  mode  of  gaining  knowledge,  is  this  :  he 
says,  "  Knowledge  is  the  first  step,  feeling  the  second,  desire 
the  third,  and  will  the  fourth."    Now  it  is  evident  to  every 
observing  mind  that  feeling  is  first,  and  is  at  the  founda- 
tion of  all  knowledge ;  for  we  can  not  know  or  be  conscious 
of  a  thing  without  feeling  it.     If  knowledge  comes  first,  as 
he  teaches,  it  must  come  without  knowledge,  as  we  have 
no  right  to  assert  the  presence  of  a  thing  without  feeling 
or  being  conscious  of  it.    Had  he  said  the  objects  of  knowl- 
edge are  prior  both  to  sensation  and  to  knowledge,  it 
would  have  been  granted  as  the  natural  order  of  receiving 
knowledge  by  the  mind,  which  must  also  have  an  ante- 
cedent existence  to  any  and  all  knowledge.    Another  great 
and  mischievous  error  is,  that  he  makes  conscience  the 
divine  dictator  and  ultimate  standard  and  test  of  all  truth, 
when  we  know  that  conscience  is  a  Ij^ing  witness  and  false 
guide,  for  conscience  has  often  told  us  that  conscience  had 
deceived  us.  "We  are  conscious  we  are  right,  and,  by-and-by, 
we  are  conscious  we  were  wrong.     When  men  fight,  each 
one's  conscience  says,  lay  on,  you  are  right.      The  most 
pious  and  honest  Christians  fall  out,  and  go  to  law,  each 
one's  conscience  jirompting  him  to  action.    The  Catholic  is 
conscious  that  the  Protestant  is  in  error,  and  the  Protestant 
feels  assured  that  the  Catholic's  conscience  has  deceived 
him;  while  the  Mahometan  knows  they  are  both  false  to 
their  great  Prophet  and  to  the  God  who  sent  him.     The 
Hindoo,  according  to  Sir  William's  standard,  is  certainly 
right,  when  he  crushes  himself  under  the  wheels  of  a  man- 
made  god,  by  the  irresistible  promptings  of  a  divine  con- 
urie.nce.   In  short,  conscience  is  a  mere  creature  of  education, 
:iii<l   Ix^longH  to  the  country  or  neighl)orho<)d  where  it  is 
raised.     To  Mssctt   absolute  veracity,  then,  to  a  thing  so 

k; 


174  THE    TRUE    PIIILOSOPUY   OF   MIND. 

fortuitous  and  mendacious,  is  an  absurdity.  He  gives 
conscience,  which  he  calls  Si  faculty,  priority  and  supremacy 
over  all  the  other  faculties,  in  one  place,  and  soon  after 
makes  it  co-ordinate  with  another  batch  oi  faculties;  then 
again  the  intuitional  faculty  rises  far  above  and  reigns 
supreme  over  all  the  other  faculties.  He  has  high  faculties, 
low  facilities ;  external  and  internal  faculties ;  conservative 
and  elsibor&t\YG  faculties ;  primary  and  secondsirj faculties ; 
passive  and  actiYe  faculties ;  the  faculty  of  knowledge  and 
a  subsidiary /rtcw^^y,  with  other  complications  too  numerous 
to  enumerate.  See  his  index.  What  he  means  by  external 
faculties  bringing  in  knowledge,  I  can  not  tell  (for  he  dis- 
cards our  brute  senses),  except  it  is  that  the  mind  sallies 
oat  of  itself  in  quest  of  knowledge,  as  many  teach.  He 
also  gives  the  mind  a  vast  number  of  powers,  such  as 
passive  and  active  powers,  etc.  I  have  shown  that  the 
mind  has  no  power,  except  that  of  submission  to  be  oper- 
ated upon;  just  as  lead  has  the  power  of  being  melted, 
and  wax  of  receiving  impressions  or  being  operated 
upon.  Passive  power  is  no  power,  and  is  a  contradiction 
in  language,  calculated  only  to  confuse  and  mislead  the 
reader ;  and  should,  as  Reid  says,  be  "  discarded  from  our 
language." 

I  have  thus  taken  a  brief  notice  of  a  few  of  Sir  William 
Hamilton's  obvious  errors,  and  had  I  sj)ace  I  could  j)oint 
out  many,  many  more — a  waste  of  time  which  I  should 
not  have  spent  had  he  not,  by  the  dash  of  his  pen,  demol- 
ished all  other  authors,  human  and  divine,  fi-om  the  earliest 
ages  up  to  his  time;  leaving  his  book  alone  as  the  only 
standard  of  truth.  Yet  he  himself,  in  my  opinion,  is  nei- 
ther impeccable  nor  immaculate,  but  subject,  like  other 
authors,  to  be  misled  by  vanity  as  well  as  honest  judgment. 
In  truth,  he  is  entirely  too  learned  ;  but,  with  all  his  learn- 
ing, he  neglected  to  study  well  the  inscrii:»tion  by  Socrates 
on  the  Delphic  Temple — "Know  thyself"     Gregory  the 


MIND.  175 

Great  says:  "Eeligion  should  not  be  subject  to  gi-ammar," 
nor  should  philosophy,  in  my  opinion,  be  sacrificed  upon 
the  altar  of  pedantry,  or  subordinated  to  the  forms  of  logic 
and  the  rules  of  rhetoric.  No,  nor  should  we  victimize 
meaning  to  words,  or  modes  and  manner  of  expression, 
as  the  learned  author  has  evidently  done.  "There  is 
nothing  (says  he)  too  absurd  for  philosophy,  or  nothing 
80  incomprehensible,  but  what  has  been  asserted  and  be- 
lieved."   Yes,  and  this  fact  his  own  book  shows. 

And  now,  to  be  done  with  our  author,  and  with  his  and 
with  my  idle  sjieculations,  from  which  no  practical  good 
can  result,  I  will  again,  by  repetition,  impress  a  few  lead- 
ing facts  upon  the  reader.  I  have  said  that  there  is  nothing 
in  God's  universe  that  can  create  or  operate  upon  itself, 
any  more  than  the  mirror  can  create  the  pictures  it  reflects, 
the  wax  its  impressions,  the  photographic  plate  its  objects, 
or  the  paper  what  is  written  upon  it;  and  this  is  the  secret 
which  at  once  solves  the  whole  enigma  of  mind,  long  sought 
for  by  philosophy,  but  now  found.  And  why?  They  have 
sought  for  it  in  books  and  in  the  closet,  where  it  dwelleth 
not,  while  I,  ever  regarding  the  voice  of  nature  as  the 
voice  of  God,  have  sought  it  where  it  was  to  be  found : 
and  though  I  now  write  where  there  are  no  paper  and 
man-made  books,  the  book  of  nature  is  ever  open  before 
me.  Now  think  and  think  again,  and  don't  forget  God's 
order  of  dualism,  and  of  mutual  and  causal  dependencies. 
This  I  know  to  be  original  with  myself,  as  here  applied, 
for  I  have  never  consulted  an  author  who  had  the  same 
idea,  or  could  tell  why  it  is  impossible  for  the  mind  to 
create  its  ideas  and  volitions,  or  look  into  itself  and  know 
itself  This  simple  fact,  if  heretofore  known  to  authors 
and  honestly  regarded,  would  have  saved  the  labor  of 
thousands  of  volumes  upon  this  mystic  and  perplexing 
8uV>ject. 

Knowing  ;is  perfectly  as  T  (h)  the  natiiro  of  niitid,  1  feci 


176  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

it  my  religious  duty  to  say  to  the  pupil,  who  may  wish  to 
study  the  science  of  mind,  that  the  trashy,  stupid,  stale, 
stereotyped,  and  unprogrcssivo  books  of  the  schools,  will 
be  worth  nothing  to  him,  save  to  talk  big  nonsense.  I 
have  looked  into  more  than  one  hundred  of  them,  and 
know  them  to  be  nothing  more  than  copies  of  ten  thou- 
sand previous  copies  of  the  original  labyrinth  of  mystic 
follies  and  falsehoods,  and  I  do  sincerely  pity  the  student 
who  has  to  undergo  the  drilling  and  drudging  of  such 
endless  and  perplexing  errors.  As  my  article  on  volition 
will  give  the  whole  science  of  mind,  with  its  practical 
results  upon  society,  I  shall  close  this  article. 


THEOLOGY  OPPOSED  BOTH  TO  RELIGION 
AND  TO  SCIENCE. 


It  is  not  here  to  be  understood,  as  it  generally  is,  that 
theology  is  religion,  nor  that  religion  is  either  opposed  to 
itself  or  to  science,  for  God  has  not  made  two  revelations 
to  conflict  with  each  other.  Theology  is  not  divine  reve- 
lation, but  the  controversial  hypothesis  of  vain,  selfish,  and 
uninspired  men,  who  theorize  the  Bible  as  though  God, 
the  Lawgiver,  could  not  or  would  not  make  his  law  to  be 
understood  by  his  children,  for  whose  benefit  he  made  that 
law.  He  made  his  children,  and  made  the  law,  and  holds 
them  eternally  bound  to  the  obedience  of  that  law,  and, 
consequently,  would  be  a  cruel  tyrant  instead  of  a  kind 
father  if  he  involved  it  in  mysteries  beyond  their  capacity 
to  understand.  The  tyrant  of  Eome,  who  wrote  his  laws 
so  fine  and  invisible,  and  hoisted  them  so  high  upon  the 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  177 

streets  that  his  subjects  could  not  read  them,  as  an  excuse 
to  wantonly  put  them  to  death,  might  plead  justification, 
as  following  the  example  of  Grod  himself. 

What  is  the  voice  of  theology  in  this  great  dilemma  of 
God's  blunders,  as  they  think,  in  making  a  law  not  to  be 
understood?  Theology  claims  to  be  appointed  of  God  to 
fill  his  defects,  and  make  his  law  plainer  than  he  himself 
could  or  would  do;  and  that  one  half  of  his  children 
might  live  upon  the  labor  of  the  other !  This  is  the  true 
position  of  theology;  and  now  what  has  it  done?  Theol- 
ogists  have  fought  with  demon  fury  over  the  Bible,  and 
have  broiled  each  other  alive.  They  have  engendered 
malice,  revenge,  and  distracted  the  whole  world.  Yes, 
they  have  thus  sowed  the  seeds  of  skepticism  and  immo- 
rality, which  are  so  rife  in  our  midst  that  no  man's  horse 
or  household  is  safe,  while  tyranny  and  brute  force  have 
had  the  mastery  for  years  past,  rendering  life  and  prop- 
erty all  unsafe.  This  is  certainly  not  from  what  the 
Bible  teaches,  but  from  the  desertion  of  its  simple  pre- 
cepts, and  the  following  of  idols,  uninspired,  vain,  and 
ambitious  men.  The  apostle  says  to  the  Christian  Ephe- 
sians.  Acts  xx,  29,  30 :  "I  know  that  after  my  departure, 
shall  grievous  wolves  enter  in  amongst  you,  not  sparing 
the  flock ;  also,  of  your  own  selves  shall  men  arise,  speak- 
ing perverse  things  to  draw  away  disciples  after  them." 
This  fact,  with  the  bitter  and  deplorable  dissensions  pro- 
duced in  the  church  of  Christ  by  theology,  I  shall  abun- 
dantly show  in  the  following  essays.  Next,  hear  what 
Origen  says :  "  Most  of  the  moral  evils  of  the  world  arise 
from  the  liberty  the  clergy  take  in  interpreting  Scriptui-e 
to  suit  their  own  views,  and  in  adhering  to  the  externals 
of  religion,  to  the  neglect  of  its  practical  teachings." 
Knowing,  as  I  do,  that  not  only  the  life  of  a  Christian,  but 
oven  his  rapturous  death,  which  wings  his  soul  for  eternal 
joys,  is  worth  more  than  all  the  Avealth  and  honor  that 


178  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP    MIND. 

earth  can  bestow,  I  can  have  no  other  object  in  view  than 
that  of  maintaining  the  principles  of  true  religion,  which, 
I  shall  show,  has  greatly  degenerated  through  the  vanity 
and  ambition  of  the  world.  That  genuine  religion,  which 
heals  the  anguished  heart,  and  bids  the  drooping  soul 
look  up  with  immortal  hope,  no  longer  exists ;  but  church 
divisions  give  to  every  dying  man  his  unhappy  doubts 
and  dreads.  Christ  says :  "  These  things  I  have  spoken 
unto  you,  that  in  me  ye  might  have  peace.  In  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation ;  but  be  of  good  cheer,  I  have 
overcome  the  world."  But  sad  it  is  to  ask,  how  long  did 
this  victory,  gained  through  the  loving  kindness,  long 
suffering,  and  death  of  our  blessed  Saviour  last?  And^ 
where  is  the  true  religion  amongst  the  ten  thousand 
diverse  and  warring  creeds  now  to  be  found?  It  is  a 
most  solemn  and  grievous  fact  beyond  all  quibble,  that 
the  selfish  and  vain-glorious  ambition  of  leaders  in  the 
church  of  Christ,  have  extinguished  almost  every  spark 
of  vital  religion,  and  substituted  a  puritanical  and  oppres- 
sive code  of  dogmas  and  artistic  forms  in  its  stead. 

Practical  religion  is  the  most  artless  and  unmistaken 
thing  in  the  world.  Simply  this,  a  tie  between  the  honest 
and  pious  heart  and  the  God  who  made  it  that  no  power 
on  earth  or  in  hell  can  sever,  and  that  no  theological 
learning  can  better.  And  now,  in  proof  of  my  position,  I 
will  make  a  few  quotations  to  show  what  theologists  say 
of  each  other;  and  first,  from  Sir  William  Hamilton, 
acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  writer  of  the  age.  In 
his  condemnation  of  the  clergy  for  their  disputes  and 
mystification  of  the  Bible  by  their  "learned  ignorance," 
as  he  calls  it,  writes  as  follows :  "Humility  thus  becomes 
the  cardinal  virtue,  not  only  of  revelation,  but  of  reason. 
This  scheme  of  reason  proves,  moreover,  that  no  diflSculty 
emerges  in  theology  which  had  not  previously  emerged 
in  philosophy ;  that,  in  fact,  if  the  divine  did  not  tran- 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  179 

scend  what  it  has  pleased  the  Deity  to  reveal,  and  wilfully 
identify  the  doctrine  of  (xod's  Word  with  some  arro- 
gant extreme  of  human  speculation,  philosophy  would  be 
found  the  most  useful  auxiliary  of  religion.  For  a  word 
of  false,  and  pestilent,  and  presumptuous  reasoning  by 
which  philosophy  and  religion  are  now  equally  discred- 
ited, would  be  at  once  abolished  in  the  recognition  of  this 
rule  of  prudent  nescience,  nor  could  it  longer  be  said  of 
the  code  of  consciousness  (the  Bible),  this  is  the  book 
where  each  his  dogma  seeks,  and  this  the  book  where 
each  his  dogma  finds  !" 

The  distinguished  Bishop  Butler,  author  of  analogy, 
in  speaking  of  controversial  theology,  and  of  mystic  and 
subtle  refinings,  says  : 

"  For  they  a  rope  of  saml  could  twist, 
Firm  as  learned  Sarbonist." 

Having  reference  to  the  celebrated  theological  school  at 
Paris.  I  quote  next  from  Charron,  who,  in  speaking  of 
divines,  in  their  opposition  to  reason,  says:  "Superstition, 
and  most  other  errors  and  defects  in  religion,  are  owing 
chiefly  to  a  want  of  becoming  and  right  apprehension  of 
God.  They  debase,  and  bring  him  down  to  themselves ; 
they  then  compare  and  judge  him  by  themselves ;  they 
clothe  him  with  their  own  infirmities,  and  then  projior- 
tion  and  fit  their  fancy  accordingly.  It  is  men's  not 
being  governed  by  the  reason  of  things,  which  makes 
them  divide  about  trifles,  and  lay  the  utmost  stress  on 
such  things  as  wise  men  would  be  ashamed  of.  It  is  on 
the  account  of  these  that  the  diff*erent  sects  place  tlio 
highest  value  on  themselves,  and  think  the^'  are  the 
peculiar  favorites  of  heaven,  while  they  condcimi  nil 
others  for  opinions  and  practices  not  more  senseless  than 
those  themselves  look  on  as  essentials  ;  and  were  it  not  in 
80  serious  a  matter,  it  would  bo  diverting  to  see  how  they 


180  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

damn  one  another  for  placing  religion  in  whimsical 
notions,  and  fantastical  rights  and  ceremonies,  without 
making  the  least  reflection  upon  what  they  themselves 
are  doing."  We  will  read  next  what  the  great  Doctor 
Scott  has  said  :  "While  men  behold  the  state  of  religion 
thus  miserably  broken  and  divided,  and  the  professors  of 
it  crumbled  into  so  many  sects  and  parties,  and  each 
party  spitting  fire  and  damnation  at  its  adversary,  so 
that  if  all  say  true,  or,  indeed,  any  two  of  them  in  the 
five  hundred  sects  which  there  are  in  the  world,  and  for 
aught  I  know  there  may  be  five  thousand,  it  is  five  hun- 
dred to  one  but  that  every  one  is  damned,  because  every 
one  damns  all  but  itself,  and  itself  is  damned  by  four 
hundred  and  ninety-nine."  Again,  the  pious  Bishop 
Taylor  speaks  thus:  "We  could  not  expect  but  that  God 
would,  some  way  or  other,  punish  Christians  by  reason  of 
their  pertinacious  disputing  of  things  unnecessary,  unde- 
terminable, unprofitable;  and  for  their  hating  and  perse- 
cuting their  brethren,  who  should  be  as  dear  to  them  as 
their  own  lives ,  for  not  consenting  to  one  another's  fol- 
lies and  senseless  vanities!"  The  Eev.  Isaac  Watts,  in 
his  work  on  the  Improvement  of  the  Mind,  says:  "A  man 
who  dwells  all  his  days  amongst  books,  may  have  amassed 
together  a  vast  heap  of  notions  ;  but  he  may  be  a  mere 
scholar,  which  is  a  contemptible  sort  of  a  character  in 
the  world."  This  sentence  speaks  volumes  in  favor  of 
coming  out  from  the  dark  and  factitious  closet  of  the 
mystic  recluse,  to  the  glowing  light  of  heaven,  and  the 
unerring  revelation  and  guidance  of  nature.  We  will 
next  hear  Doctor  Clark,  who  very  justly  says  :  "A  teacher 
of  divinity  may  be  a  living  concordance,  and  a  walking 
index  to  theological  follies,  and  yet  know  nothing  of  re- 
ligion !"  Mosheim,  the  celebrated  sacred  historian,  says: 
"Let  no  one,  for  a  moment,  think  that  the  bishops  and 
clergy  of  the  present  day  compare  with  those  of  the  days 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  181 

of  the  fathers,  when  the  gospel  was  preached  in  simplicity, 
and  with  Christian  piety  and  love." 

I  have  thus  made  a  few  quotations  from  good  author- 
ity— a  volume  of  which  might  be  given  to  sustain  my 
position,  that  speculative  sectarian  theology  has  drifted 
us  far  from  the  primitive  principles  of  religion,  and  is 
not,  therefore,  religion  itself,  as  some  think.  I  will  now 
give  some  unquestionable  proofs  that  theology  has  been 
opposed  to  science.  First  I  will  give  the  trial  and  con- 
demnation of  Galileo : 

"  I,  Galileo,  aged  seventy  years,  and  on  my  knees 
before  you^  most  reverened  Lords  and  Cardinals,  and 
general  Inquisition  of  the  Universal  Church,  of  heretical 
depravity,  having  my  eyes  upon  the  Holy  Gospel,  which 
I  do  touch  with  my  lips,  do  swear  that  I  believe,  always 
have  believed,  and  always  will  believe,  every  article  which 
the  Holy  Catholic  Apostolic  Eoman  Church  holds,  and 
teaches,  and  preaches ;  and  as  I  have  written  a  book  in 
which  I  have  maintained  that  the  sun  is  the  center — 
which  false  doctrine  is  repugnant  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures— I,  with  sincere  heart,  do  abjure,  curse,  and  detest 
the  said  error  and  heresy,  and  generally,  every  other 
error,  and  heresy,  and  sect,  contrary  to  said  Holy 
Scriptures." 

Thus  we  see  how  a  truly  groat  and  good  man  was 
treated  by  theology,  simply  because  he  regarded  nature 
and  nature's  God  as  above  all  dogmatic  theology  and  the 
machinations  of  man.  The  immutable  and  eternal  laws 
of  nature  (cHtablislied  by  God  himself)  discovered  by  the 
divine,  but  persecuted  Galileo,  have  since  been  pursued  by 
Newton  and  others,  till  we  can  now  calculate  the  move- 
ments of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  predict  eclipses  to  the 
second  for  th(jii.s:in(ls  of  years  to  come.  Yes;  wo  have 
seen  the  true  miiiiHter  of  God  on  his  knees  before  an 
ignorant  and   ungodly  priesthood;    a  scone  most   horrid 


182  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

in  the  sight  of  Heaven— not  surpassed  by  the  burning  of 
the  pious  Servetus  and  John  Eogers.  But  so  much,  so 
far,  for  theological  learning,  meriting  only  the  curse  of 
God,  and  the  eternal  horror  and  wrathful  detestation  of 
all  mankind.  It  may  be  (as  has  been  said)  all  such  cru- 
elty and  murder  of  reason  was  under  Catholic  fanatcism 
and  priestly  craft ;  but  this  the  history  of  the  reformation 
proves  to  be  false,  and,  knowing  what  I  do,  I  should  feel 
just  as  safe  under  the  hierarchy  of  Olympus  or  pontificate 
of  Eome  as  under  that  of  Protestant  dogmatism,  with  its 
crushing  despotisms,  isms,  seisms,  and  little  antagonisms. 

I  will  give  a  few  historical  facts,  in  farther  proof  of 
the  opposition  of  theology  to  science.  Yes,  for  I  shall 
record  nothing  but  facts — undeniable  facts.  When  Har- 
vey first  discovered  the  circulation  of  the  blood,  by  "  poor 
human  reason,"  the  learned  clergy  avoided  him  and  vili- 
fied him  as  an  infidel,  because  of  their  very  learned  belief 
that  the  pulse  was  the  bounding  spirit  striving  to  make 
its  escape  from  its  tenement  of  clay.  Again,  when  Eoger 
Bacon  discovered  the  mode  of  making  gunpowder,  the 
learned  clergy  excommunicated  him,  as  having  dealings 
with  the  devil,  and  threw  him  into  prison,  where  he  died. 
Some  say  he  was,  after  ten  years  of  close  confinement, 
released ;  but  this  matters  not,  as  all  historians  agree  that 
he  was  the  greatest  miracle  of  his  age,  particularly  in  the 
science  of  chemistry,  and  in  mathematical  and  mechan- 
ical knowledge ;  so  much  so  that  the  learned  clergy  wisely 
suspected  him  of  magic,  and  persecuted  him  so  as  to  make 
him  regret  he  had  ever  studied  science — the  laws  of  God. 

Every  intelligent  reader  knows  that  the  first  book 
published  on  the  true  system  of  geology  met  with  the 
vehement  indignation  of  theology,  which  feared  it  would 
contradict  the  Mosaic  account  of  creation,  and  thus  run 
counter  to  their  learned  calling.  For  the  same  reason 
did  they  oppose  astronomy;    saying,  if  the  sun  did  not 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  183 

stand  still  three  hours,  while  great  stones  were  thrown 
down  fi"om  heaven  upon  their  betters,  as  Joshua  coru- 
manded  it,  much  doubt  would  arise  in  regard  to  Jewish 
history,  and,  consequently  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible  itself. 
I  say  their  betters,  for  they  did  not  belie,  betray,  and 
murder  Christ  as  did  the  Jews.  All  these  learned  and 
alarming  predictions  lacked  prescience,  for  none  have 
come  to  pass.  Learning,  in  theology,  professes  to  be 
dark,  deep,  and  difficult  of  comprehension;  for  it  has 
gone  back,  yes,  far  back  through  the  dark  and  length- 
ened vista  of  time  into  past  eternity,  to  find  upon  the 
tablets  of  the  eternal  Godhead,  the  records  to  suit  its 
doctrine — that  God,  having  the  same  power  over  his 
children  that  the  potter  has  over  his  clay,  makes  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  in  the  thousand  ill-shapen,  and 
then  danms  them  eternally  because  he  himself  has  thus 
made  them  ill-shapen.  This  discovery,  it  is  true,  may 
induce  many  to  say  they  believe  in  this  learned  theology, 
in  order  to  be  on  the  safe  side ;  but  for  pelf  and  power 
it  does  not  compare  with  the  theology  of  the  Pope,  who 
received  the  keys  of  heaven,  hell,  and  earth  from  Peter, 
of  more  recent  date;  and,  by-the-by,  his  passports  to 
heaven,  at  fair  prices,  make  his  members  equally  safe. 
The  crest  of  theology  has  fallen  much  indeed  since 
science  has  taught  it  that  the  sun,  planets,  and  stars 
were  »ot  little  lamps  swinging  around  this  only  world 
in  all  God's  creation — made,  as  it  thought,  for  its  special 
benefit.  And  more  mortifying  still  to  think,  yes,  to 
know,  that  those  little  lamps  have  turned  out  to  bo 
thirteen  hundred  and  twenty-three  millions  of  visible 
globes  as  large  as  this  earth — but  a  speck  of  God's  crea- 
tion. O,  theology,  theology!  vain  theology!  strive  no 
longer  to  degrade  God's  glorious  works  or  oppose  his 
immutable  and  eternal  decrees! 

The    discovery  of    the   compass    and   the    science    of 


184  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

navigation  was  pronounced  by  theology  to  be  the  work 
of  evil  spirits,  and  looked  upon  with  inquisitorial 
vigilance.  All  readers  will  recollect  the  early  history 
of  printing;  and  that  the  first  Bible  ever  printed  was 
executed  at  Paris,  where  the  inventor's  house  was 
surrounded  by  theology,  to  prevent  the  evil  spirits 
from  escaping,  but  the  demon  had,  by  timely  hint, 
eloped.  His  printing-office,  paper,  and  type  were  all 
consumed.  This  was  by  theological  learning  and  high 
ofiicials  (of  the  Universal  Church),  who  were  worshiped 
by  the  people  as  gods.  When  Dr.  Jenner  made  the 
god-like  discovery  of  inoculation  as  a  preventative  to 
small-pox,  he  was  traduced  by  theology  as  an  infidel,  and 
persecuted  till  he  lost  his  standing,  and  had  occasion,  like 
Galileo  and  Bacon,  to  be  sorry  they  had  not  obeyed  the 
dogmas  of  men  instead  of  the  laws  of  their  God.  Proof 
was  brought  before  the  courts,  by  church-members,  that 
horns  had  been  seen  growing  out  of  the  heads  of  those 
who  had  the  brute  matter  of  a  cow  inserted  into  them ; 
and,  oh,  how  cruel,  that  little  children,  made  in  the 
image  of  God,  should  be  thus  turned  to  brutes!  There 
are  sermons  yet  to  be  seen  of  that  day,  all  in  proof  of 
this  undeniable  fact.  Even  Martin  Luther,  of  whom 
better  things  should  have  been  expected,  was  so  blinded 
by  fanaticism,  bigotiy,  and  selfish  ambition  of  party,  that 
he  had  no  humility,  humanity,  nor  Christian  charity ;  for 
here  is  the  expression  of  his  feelings,  which  governed 
him  alike  in  all  other  things.  In  speaking  of  witchcraft,, 
which  he  vehemently  denounced  as  a  "diabolical  sin,"  he 
says  :  "I  would  have  no  mercy  on  these  witches,  but  I 
would  burn  them  all."  Yes,  and  history  tells  us  that 
thousands  of  poor  innocent  creatures  were  annually 
burned  throughout  Europe.  The  last  case  of  slander 
to  God,  and  cruelty  of  man  to  man,  from  [superstition, 
is  on  record  in  the  English  courts ;   where  a  poor,  igno- 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  185 

rant,  and  innocent  old  woman  was  had  up  before  Lord 
Mansfield,  and  undoubted  was  the  fact  that  she  bad 
been  seen  riding  on  a  broom-stick  through  the  air ;  but 
Mansfield  mercifully  let  her  off  (though  the  respectability 
of  the  witnesses  proved  the  fact),  for  there  was  no  law 
to  prevent  any  of  them  from  riding  on  a  bi'oom-stick 
through  air.  Learned  theology,  however,  condemned 
his  decision.  Did  we  dare  express  our  sentiments,  we 
would  say  we  hate  the  Devil  for  burning  people,  and  yet 
we  worship  theology  for  doing  the  same.  The  virtuous 
Lucretia,  and  other  good  Eoraans,  worshiped  the  base 
and  corrupt  Venus  ;  and  so  in  modern  times  do  good, 
unthinking  people  aid  in  putting  down  the  science  as 
well  as  the  true  Word  of  God,  and  worship  the  many- 
headed,  paradoxical  and  vacillating  theology,  as  the  true 
voice  of  God  himself. 

I  think  the  reader  must  see  by  this,  how  it  is  and 
why  it  is  that  two  thousand  years  of  teaching  in  mental 
science,  and  eighteen  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years  of 
gospel    preaching,    have    only    served    to    make    those 
subjects  more   doubtful  and   distracting  than  ever ;  for, 
as  Sir  William  Hamilton  justly  says  :  "  The  past  history 
of    mental    philosophy   and    of    theology,   have,    in    a 
great   measure,  been    only    of  variations     and    errors." 
The  perpetual   oscillations  of  human  opinion,  with   the 
palpable  contradictions  and  astounding  falsehoods  prop- 
agated by  the  various  leaders  of  their  distracted  parties, 
arc  all  in  proof  of  a  grevious  error  in  the  education  of 
man.     We  need  not  go  back  to  the  Brahminical  sages, 
nor    to    Oriental    pantheism,    to     Egyptian     astrology, 
heathen  mytliology  or  the  endless  shades  of  paganism, 
to  show  that  man  has  ever  been  chained  to  the  greatest 
and   most  degrading    errors;    and  led  as  an  ox  by  the 
despotic  opinions  of  otlicrs.     There  is  an  individual   now 
in  Italy,  who,  by  his  dictiiin,  wields  tin-  tniiids  (if  .-t   lai-ge 


186  THE  TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

portion  of  the  Christian  world,  with  as  much  ease  as  a 
boy  whirls  his  top.     Joe  Smith,  the  Mormon  imposter,  is 
a  lamentable  instance  of  the  credulity  and  stupidity  of 
mankind,  in   letting  go  what   preachers   may   call   the 
vulgar  realities   of  life,  and  getting  out  of  the  sphere 
where  God    has   placed    them,  and    grasping   after   the 
mystic  and   magic  power  of  theology.      His   craft   and 
wily  tricks  have  already  grasped  the  four  quarters  of 
the  globe,  and  creatures  of  all  nations  and  languages  are 
crossing  stormy  seas  and  traversing  forests  wide  and  wild 
to  worship  at  his  shrine.     Thousands  of  smaller  leaders 
are  rising  up,  from   time  to   time,  to  lead  captive  the 
craven  and  credulous  in  the  various  isms  and  dogma- 
tisms of  the  day ;  while  juggling  demagogues  and  meta- 
physical   fanatics    have   entered    the   vortex    of   mental 
distraction,  and  swelled  the  scene  of  unhallowed  bicker- 
ings and  revelings  without  charity.    No  brotherhood  is 
found  on  earth;  no  bonds  of  union  nor  ties  of  friendship 
to   be  felt.      No   one    God,   one   people,  one   church,   is 
granted — all  is  left  in  darkness  and  in  doubt,  and  each 
party  impiously  arrogating  to  themselves  the  special  gift 
of  heaven.     All  have   agreed  to  disagree  in  all  things, 
save  only  that  reason,  the  great  enemy  of  mystery  and 
of  faith  in  things  unseen,  is  to  be  condemned  by  all,  as 
heretical,  and  dangerous  to  falsehood  and  oppression.  And 
well  may  everything  ungodly  fear  divine  reason,  which 
has  made  tyrants  tremble  upon  their  thrones,  and  human 
oppression,  in  all  its  Gorgon  forms,  to  fly  before  its  voice ; 
nor  can  the  wiles  of  papal  sorcery,  or  the  tricks  of  the 
Devil  himself,  stand   before   the  might  and   majesty  of 
reason. 

After  the  expenditure  of  myriads  of  money  and  the 
labor  of  millions  of  teachers  in  the  training  of  mind,  the 
world  is  not  improved,  but  rendered  more  ungodly  and 
open  in  its  acts  of  fraud  and  cruelty.     The  bloody  sword 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  187 

is  still  unsheathed,  and  crime  is  rife  in  the  land ;  nation 
wars  against  nation,  and  man  with  man;  the  midnight 
dagger  and  the  burglar's  hands  are  bold  in  their  daring 
deeds;  while  frauds,  perjuries,  and  seductions  have  be- 
come the  order  of  the  day,  from  the  precincts  of  divinity 
to  the  high  functionaries  of  government;  brother  cheats 
brother,  and  neighbor  overreaches  neighbor,  and  openly 
boasts  of  his  smartness.  The  greatest  murderer  of  our 
late  civil  war  has  been  made  the  admired  hero;  while 
high  officials,  without  number,  b}^  the  blackest  crime  of 
ingratitude  known  to  the  records  of  Heaven,  have  per- 
jured themselves,  robbed  their  government,  and  become 
leaders  of  society. 

The  first  murder  ever  committed  on  earth  arose  from  a 
quarrel  about  religion;  and  I,  from  long  reflection  and 
investigation  of  the  history  of  man,  am  satisfied  that  all 
the  murders  and  wars  of  the  world,  from  that  day  to  this, 
have  arisen  from  false  views  of  religion:  and  by  this 
ojjinion  did  I  for  years  prophesy  our  late  bloody  struggle. 
I  saw  preachers  of  theology,  North  and  South,  amidst  the 
embroiled  elements  of  human  strife,  and  like  "dogs  of 
war,"  urging  to  havoc,  blood,  and  devastation ;  and  soon 
did  they  find  such  demons  as  Butler  prone  to  do  their 
bidding — a  Vjeast  whom  the  Devil  took  into  his  service  to 
steal  spoons  and  do  his  kitchen  drudgery,  after  which  he 
sent  him  to  Congress  to  sow  the  seeds  of  further  strife 
from  which  to  reap  another  rich  harvest. 

••  Why  BleepR  the  thunder  in  the  skiea, 
While  wicked  men  to  fortune  rise  ; 
Or  why  should  innocence  bewail 
DiHtreHg  in  bleak  misfortune's  vale? 
JuHt  are  the  dark  decrecH  of  Ileaven, 
Since  short  the  dnto  to  eilhiT  givoii  ; 
Vice  cariiK  but  dread  and  roiiHtaiit  Khaiiie, 
While  endlcBH  joys  are  vlrtuu'H  claim." 
I 

Tlif   Nurllicrii    |MOplr'    boing    laiiglil    ;i    consciciifc.  1)y 


188  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOrHY   OP   MIND. 

theology  that  slavery  was  a  crime,  and  the  Southern 
people,  being  conscious  of  an  intermeddling  with  their 
rights,  their  divine  consciences  brought  them  into  deadly 
conflict.  O,  theology,  why  not,  when  it  was  so  fully  in 
your  power,  prevent  such  awful  disaster,  by  the  exercise 
of  your  profession,  of  meekness,  mildness,  and  brotherly 
kindness  ? 

Nor  has  theology  been  satisfied  with  "  spitting  hell-fire 
and  damnation  at  its  brethren,"  at  the  sad  sobs  of  the 
widow  and  the  piteous  cries  of  the  orphan  at  their  hand ; 
biit  they  have  since  split  the  church  of  Christ,  and  cruci- 
fied him  anew. 

It  might  seem  a  condescension  in  an  author  to  notice 
such  creatures  as  Butler,  who  glory  in  infamy,  and 
desire  to  be  thus  recorded,  like  the  lepered  wretch  who 
oj^enly  and  exultingly  burnt  the  Temple  of  Diana  in 
order  to  immortalize  his  name  in  history,  having  no 
other  talent  by  which  to  make  himself  conspicuous. 
Could  Butler  now  burn  the  capital  at  "Washington,  he 
would  gain  more  immortality  than  all  his  petty  pillagings 
and  brutal  oppressions  can  give  him  in  Satan's  black  book 
of  damning  crimes. 

All  this  will  not  be  denied,  when  both  secular  and 
sacred  prints  make  it  known,  and  when  it  is  daily 
heralded  from  the  pulpit  that  crime  is  alarmingly  on 
the  increase. 

And  now,  as  Christian  brothers,  let  us,  in  Scriptural 
language,  reason  together,  and  ascertain  how  and  why  is 
this  most  grievous  state  of  things.  Many  years  of  obser- 
vation, among  the  various  conditions  and  nations  of  man- 
kind, have  proven  to  me  that  man  is  a  creature  of  education, 
and  that  his  education  has  actually  been  vicious  instead 
of  virtuous;  for  what  but  education  prompted  the  slaugh- 
ter of  seventy  thousand  men,  women,  and  children,  in 
France,  all  between  the  hours  of  midnight  and  the  dawn, 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  189 

and  the  bloody  and  fiery  scenes  of  Smithfield,  and  that 
in  the  sacred  name  of  Grod?  Nor  is  this  one  droj)  to  the 
blood  which  has  been  shed  in  the  cruelty  of  man  to  man, 
from  the  errors  of  education.  And  now  I  say,  in  brotherly 
counsel,  what  I  positively  know,  that  all  the  persecutions 
and  cruelties  of  man  to  man,  as  well  as  every  other  crime 
and  offense,  both  to  God  and  man,  arise  from  superstition, 
fanaticism,  bigotry,  and  ambition.  There  is  one  thing 
here  I  wish  to  impress  upon  the  reader's  mind,  which  he 
may  never  have  thought  of,  and  that  is,  that  the  inter- 
preter has,  a  hundred  to  one,  more  influence  upon  society 
than  the  writer  of  the  book  himself  has ;  hence,  it  follows 
that  the  interpretei-s  of  the  Bible  have  ever  had  more 
influence  than  God,  the  Author ;  for  every  party  subscribes 
to  the  creed  written  by  his  pastor  for  him,  and  blindly 
follows  his  leaders ;  and  particularly  if  they  can,  by  the 
force  of  dogmatic  theology,  battle  down  all  around  them. 
And  here  I  am  reminded  of  the  controversies  between 
Campbell  and  Eice,  and  Bishop  Purcell,  and  Owen,  at 
Cincinnati,  in  modern  times  and  at  our  own  doors,  where, 
all  the  time,  Pluto  was  the  busiest  old  fellow  in  the  crowd, 
stirring  up,  not  brotherly  love,  but  fiendish  enmities,  and 
but  for  the  balance  of  conservative  power,  now-a-days,  in 
the  hands  of  skepticism,  the  scenes  of  Bartholomew  and 
Smithfield  might  have  been  enacted  over  and  over  again, 
for  human  passion  and  part}^  prejudice  are  the  same  now 
they  ever  were. 

I  moralized  upon  this  scene,  and  could  not  see  where  it 
was  to  have  any  better  effect  upon  society  than  the  meet- 
ing of  Sayers  and  lleenan,  in  their  pugilistic  combat,  so 
much  condemned  as  a  bad  example  to  society.  True,  one 
Bacrilegiously  entered  the  scratch  in  the  name  of  God; 
but  we  all  know  that  the  foulest  cloaks  have  been  worn, 
and  the  blackest  and  most  damning  deeds  of  earth  have 
been  committed,  in  the  sacred  name  of  God;  not  saying 

17 


190  THE  TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

this  was  an  instance,  but  I  name  it,  as  many  think  every- 
thing done  in  the  name  of  Grod  is  religious.  Pirates  have 
acknowledged  that  they  murder  and  rob  in  the  name  of 
God, giving  to  him  and  his  vicegerents  a  part;  and  when 
a  vessel  appears  in  sight,  they  devoutly  go  through  all  the 
commands  prescribed  by  theology,  as  making  the  cross, 
etc.,  and  when  successful  they  return  thanks  to  the  Lord 
for  giving  them  such  rich  booty;  and  now  marvel  not, 
my  reader,  for  this  becomes  the  legitimate  result  of  all 
formal  religions  of  the  world,  as  well  as  that  of  the 
Christian  faith.  Nothing  more  clearly  shows  the  de- 
plorable credulity  of  the  human  mind,  and  the  power  of 
theology  over  it,  than  does  the  sale  of  indulgences;  a  few 
of  which  items  I  will  give  as  lessons  to  show  the  reader 
what  his  mind  is  and  would  have  been  under  the  same 
theological  training: 

The  price  of  procuring  abortion 7  shillings. 

For  simony 10      Do. 

For  sacrilege 10      Do. 

For  taking  a  false  oath 9      Do. 

For  robbing 12      Do. 

For  burning  a  house 12      Do. 

For  defiling  a  virgin 9      Do. 

For  lying  with  a  mother  or  sister 7      Do. 

For  murdering  a  layman 7      Do. 

For  murdering  a  priest The  whole  fortune. 

For  keeping  a  concubine 10  shillings. 

For  laying  Tiolent  bands  on  a  clergyman 10      Do. 

Thus  has  theology  justified  the  most  abhorrent  of  crimes 
for  the  sake  of  the  Lord.  Countless  millions  have  also 
been  filched  from  the  pockets  of  the  poor,  for  funeral 
services,  as  well  as  for  passports  to  heaven  and  security 
against  hell ;  and  ungrateful  did  theology  pronounce  the 
son  who  would  not  sell  the  coat  off  his  back  to  pay 
theology  to  have  his  father  prayed  out  of  the  torments  of 
purgatory  or  hell;  yes,  and  thus  have  we  seen  theology  . 
winking  at  sin  and  rioting  in  luxury,  while  its  devotees 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  191 

famished  for  bread.  O,  theology,  theology,  learned  the- 
ology, easier  would  it  be  for  a  camel,  etc.  Part  of  these 
vast  sums  was  given  to  the  Lord  in  erecting  gorgeous 
edifices,  and  in  sustaining  an  ostentatious  church  para- 
phernalia; for  it  has  ever  been  the  idea  of  theology  that 
God  is  very  vain  and  fond  of  apj)earing  before  men, 
while  the  pride  of  party  and  pomp  of  power  demanded  a 
portion  of  this  hellish  booty.  It  ever  has  been,  and  yet 
is  the  idea,  that  God  will  sanction  even  the  blackest  of 
crimes  for  money  to  be  used  in  his  name.  Cast  your  eyes 
all  over  the  world,  and  back,  throughout  all  nations,  and 
you  will  find  that  sacrifices  have  been  and  are  still  de- 
manded by,  and  given  to,  the  gods  that  are  worshiped. 
Every  day  of  your  life  you  will  see  thousands  of  innocent 
babes  writhing  in  the  agonies  of  death  upon  the  altars  of 
those  theological  gods,  that  must  be  appeased  either  by 
blood,  or  by  the  smell  of  cookery.  It  is  sad,  yet  certain, 
that  no  nation  on  earth  has  yet  ever  worshiped  the  true 
God,  the  Great  Jehovah  of  the  universe;  and  had  the  first 
sons  on  earth  have  known  the  true  God,  who  wants 
neither  mutton  or  cabbage,  one  would  not  have  murdered 
the  other.  Theologians  have  brought  divinity  down  to 
a  low  standing,  and  given  to  God  all  their  own  human 
passions.  When  I  say  theology  has  done  all  this,  I  speak 
correctly,  for  everybody  knows  that  every  religion  has 
its  clergy  or  leaders,  who  write  the  creed  and  direct 
modes  and  manner  of  worship.  Even  the  savages  of 
North  America  have  their  prophets  and  medicine  men, 
who  direct  all  religious  duties.  At  the  close  of  the  Black 
Hawk  war,  in  the  spring  of  1833, 1  took  the  great  jn-ophet 
of  that  nation,  Jihick  Hawk  himself,  his  two  sons,  Keokuk, 
the  great  Indian  orator,  and  the  whole  royal  family,  on 
board  my  steamboat,  when  passing  Hock  Island,  and 
landed  them  at  the  mouth  <A'  the  Des  Moines  river,  not 
then  a  white  nuui   in  the  now  great  State  of  Iowa.     In 


192  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

conversation  with  tliis  celebrated  chieftain,  I  found  that, 
though  the  oracle  of  his  prophet  had  led  him  to  war 
with  the  pledge  of  turning  the  balls  of  their  enemy  into 
mud,  he  had  not  lost  confidence  in  him.  Such  is  the 
wonderful  devotion  of  all  nations  to  theology !  Each  sect 
gets  up  its  party  theological  schools  to  train  young  men 
in  their  particular  dogmas,  and  they  deserve  just  as  much 
credit  for  their  religion  and  their  learning  as  the  railroad 
cars  do  in  tracking  closely  after  their  conductor. 

If  the  theologian,  when  turned  out,  is  able  to  meet  his 
antagonist — not  the  Devil  (take  notice),  but  his  brother  in 
Christ — and  can  overcome  him  by  his  pugilistic  training 
in  the  rules  of  logic  and  the  artful  tricks  of  subtilty 
and  quibble,  he  at  once  has  calls,  not  for  his  Christian 
demeanor  in  humility,  meekness,  brotherly  love,  and 
friendship,  but  for  his  worldly  powers  in  pleasing  party 
pride  and  j)assion.  This  is  as  true  as  that  there  is  a  G-od 
in  heaven,  and  no  honest  man  will  deny  it.  It  matters 
not  how  sincere,  honest,  and  pious  a  preacher  may  be 
now-a-days,  without  the  artistic  paraphernalia  of  modern 
theology,  he  is  at  once  an  old  fogy,  and  won't  do ;  and  if 
his  piety  places  him  beyond  their  power  of  impeachment, 
they  will  starve  him  out :  for  the  novelty,  the  pride,  and 
ambition  of  modern  times  could  not  tolerate  the  preach- 
ing and  humble  appeai*ance  of  Christ  and  his  apostles 
themselves.  What  sort  of  a  figure  would  a  modern 
preacher  cut  coming  into  a  fashionable  city  riding  upon 
an  ass,  or  coming  in  from  the  wilderness,  as  John  did, 
with  his  loins  girded  up  with  camel's  hair.  Sackcloth 
and  ashes  are  no  longer  tolerated;  but  fine  linen  and 
broadcloth  best  suits  finely-cushioned  pews,  fashionable 
bonnets,  and  shoddy  members.  These  are  certainly  bad 
examples  for  morals  and  society;  but  not  less  so  than  the 
liberty  theologians  take  in  theorizing  and  allegorizing 
the  Bible,  till  they  have  torn  it  asunder  and  picked  it  to 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  193 

pieces,  so  that  no  one  finds  enough  of  the  old  thing  itself 
as  a  guide,  but  runs  after  some  one  of  the  five  hundred 
who  has  snatched  a  piece  of  it. 

I  have  said  that  the  interpreter  of  the  Bible  has  a 
hundred  to  one  more  influence  upon  society  than  God, 
the  Author,  has ;  and  this  is  undeniable,  for  everybody 
knows  that  the  leader  of  a  l^arty  interprets  ScrijJture  to 
suit  his  party  doctrines.  It  works  just  in  this  way:  An 
uninspired  man,  of  blind  prejudice  and  full  of  ambition 
for  party  leadership,  assumes  a  dogma  to  suit  his  purpose, 
and  the  Scripture  then  must  bend  to  suit  his  hypoth- 
esis. I  can  defend  any  kind  of  wickedness  and  find 
Scripture  to  defend  it.  Theft,  for  instance,  and  ingrati- 
tude. God,  says  the  Scripture,  told  the  Jews,  secretly,  to 
borrow  all  the  jewels  they  could  get  of  gold  and  silver,  and 
pretend  they  were  only  going  just  across  the  E.ed  sea  to 
worship,  and  would  soon  return  ;  but  God,  as  recorded  by 
these  rebellious,  ungrateful,  and  slanderous  j^eople  them- 
selves, led  them  on  with  all  their  jilunder,  never  intendiug 
their  return.  And  thus  they  make  God  their  cat's-paw 
of  falsehood  and  of  fraud.  And  again :  "  I  saw,"  says 
the  prophet  Micah,  "the  Lord  sitting  upon  his  throne, 
and  all  the  host  of  heaven  standing  on  his  right  hand  and 
on  his  left,  and  the  Lord  said.  Who  shall  entice  Ahab, 
King  of  Lsrael,  that  he  may  go  up  and  fall  at  Eamoth 
Gilead?  And  one  spake,  saying,  after  this  manner;  and 
another  spake,  saying,  after  that  manner.  Then  there 
came  out  a  spirit  and  stood  before  the  Lord,  and  said,  I 
will  entice  him.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  Where- 
with? And  he  said,  I  will  go  out  and  be  a  lying  spirit  in 
the  mouth  of  all  his  prophets.  And  the  Lord  said,  Thou 
shalt  entice  him,  and  thou  shalt  prevail.  Go  out  and  do 
even  HO."  This  may  have  been  some  little  god  of  a  petty 
party,  but  1  hold  it  as  a  gross  slander  upon  the  great 
Go<l    of   tiie    universe,  who,  by  a  wish    (without   fraud 


194  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

and  corruption),  could  have  annihilated  Ahab  and  his 
nation. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen,  as  I  have  said,  the  leader  of  a  reli- 
gious party,  or  a  sinner,  may  take  any  position,  or  commit 
any  act,  and  find  Scripture  to  support.  The  followers  of 
Cortez,  Pizarro,  and  Almagro  found  Scripture  to  justify 
them  in  butchering  the  poor  natives  by  thousands  and 
feeding  them  to  their  dogs.  They  acted  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  149th  Psalm  of  David,  which  commands 
God's  favorite  people  (the  Catholics,  of  course)  to  "go 
out  with  the  high  praises  of  God  in  their  mouths,  and  a 
two-edged  sword  in  their  hands,  to  commit  vengeance 
upon  the  heathen  [any  they  may  fancy  to  call  so],  and 
to  bind  their  nobles  in  chains  and  in  fetters  of  iron. 
This  power  hath  all  his  saints.  Praise  ye  the  Lord." 
And  now.  Lord,  forgive  me  in  saying,  it  was  wrong,  yes, 
very  wrong,  in  you  to  give  this  authority,  to  have  your 
poor,  innocent,  and  unoffending  children  most  cruelly 
butchered  up  by  highway  robbers,  pirates,  and  murder- 
ers. I  quote  from  memory,  having  no  book  of  reference 
of  any  kind  by  me,  but  I  think  it  is  word  for  word.  I 
make  these  quotations  to  show  what  I  shall,  by-and-by, 
insist  upon — that  there  are  passages  in  the  Bible  never 
dictated  by  God,  and  wicked  things  done  in  his  holy 
name  which  he  never  authorized.  I  quote  next  from  the 
great  and  true  philosopher,  John  Locke :  "  No  mission 
can  be  looked  upon  as  divine  that  delivers  anything  de- 
rogatory from  the  honor  of  the  one  only  true,  invisible 
God,  or  inconsistent  with  natural  religion  and  the  rules 
of  morality;  because  God  having  discovered  to  man  the 
unit}^  and  majesty  of  his  eternal  Godhead,  and  the  truths 
of  natural  religion,  by  the  light  of  reason,  he  can  not  be 
supposed  to  back  the  contrary  by  revelation;  for  that 
would  be  to  destroy  the  evidence  and  use  of  reason, 
without  which  man  can  not  be  able  to  distinguish  divine 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  195 

revelation  from  diabolical  imposture."  I  think  it  is  Dr. 
Scott  who  says:  "That  had  not  the  Mahometan  divines 
had  the  knack  of  allegorizing  nonsense,  fools  and  frantic 
persons  would  not  have  been  held  in  such  honor  and 
reverence  amongst  the  JMussulmen,  only  because  their 
revelations  and  enthusiasm  transported  them  out  of  the 
ordinary  temper  of  humanity."  Hence,  I  say,  if  man- 
kind were  governed  by  the  light  of  reason  and  the  laws 
of  natural  revelation,  they  would  not  be  dupes  to  mystic 
mummeries  and  slaves  to  the  gross  impostors  who  now 
rule  the  world. 

Why  should  Dr.  South  speak  thus  of  the  Bible:  "It  is 
a  mysterious  and  extraordinary  book,  which  perhaps  the 
more  it  is  studied  the  less  it  is  understood ;  as  generally 
finding  a  man  cracked  or  making  himself  so."  This  is 
not  so ;  for  God  never  uttered  a  word  essential  to  salva- 
tion not  to  be  understood.  He  might  have  said  with 
propriety,  what  he  meant,  that  the  more  designing  and 
ambitious  men  tamper  with  the  Bible  by  false  interpre- 
tations and  misconstructions,  the  less  it  is  understood. 
Archbishop  Tillotson  says,  that  "  It  will  be  hard  to  de- 
termine how  many  degrees  of  innocence  and  good  nature, 
or  of  coldness  and  indifference  in  religion  are  necessary 
to  overbalance  the  fury  of  the  blind  zeal,  since  several 
zealots  had  been  excellent  men  if  their  religion  had  not 
hindered  them;  if  the  doctrines  and  principles  of  their 
church  had  not  spoiled  their  disposition."  A  solemn 
satire  this  upon  blind  zeal  and  human  idolatry.  I  next 
quote  what  the  celebrated  Chillingworth  gave  as  a  reason 
for  turning  papist :  "  Because  the  Protestant  cause  is  now, 
and  liath  been  from  the  beginning,  maintained  with  I'alsi- 
fications  and  calumnies,  whereof  the  prime  controversy 
writers  are  notoriously  and  in  a  high  degree  guilty." 
And  upon  his  return  to  the  church,  lie  says:  '■'■  Iliacos 
intra  muros  j/eccatur  ct  extra;"  which  is,  in  plain  English, 


196  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

Priests  (preachers)  of  all  denominations  will  lie  alike.  From 
this,  again,  I  in  part  dissent,  feeling  that  he  hits  his 
brothers  unjustly  en  masse ;  for  they  will  not  all  lie,  but, 
being  the  same  erring  beings  that  make  politicians,  they, 
like  those  corruptors  of  society,  too  often  dissemble  for  the 
sake  of  popularity  and  jjarty.  Dr.  Scott  says :  "  Moral 
goodness  is  the  great  stamp  and  impress  that  render  men 
current  in  the  esteem  of  God  ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary, 
the  common  brand  by  which  hypocrites  and  false  pre- 
tenders to  religion  are  stigmatized  is  their  being  zealous 
for  the  forms,  and  cold  and  indifferent  to  the  morals  of 
religion.  And,  in  general,  we  find  mere  moral  princi- 
ples of  such  weight  that,  in  our  dealings  with  men,  we 
are  seldom  satisfied  by  the  fullest  assurance  given  us  of 
their  zeal  in  religion  until  we  hear  something  farther  of 
their  character.  If  we  are  told  a  man  is  religious,  we 
still  ask  whether  he  is  honest  and  of  kind  temper ;  but  if 
we  hear  at  first  that  he  has  honest,  moral  principles,  and 
is  a  man  of  moral  justice  and  good  temper,  we  seldom 
think  of  asking  the  other  question — whether  he  is  reli- 
gious and  devout."  And  again:  "A  man  who  has,  or 
pretends  to  have,  a  blind  zeal  for  those  things  which 
discriminate  his  sect,  though  he  be  ever  so  immoral,  too 
often  finds  countenance  and  credit  from  them;  and  though 
thought  a  devil  by  others,  passes  for  a  saint  with  his  own 
party,  so  that  the  superstitious  lie  under  temptations  to  be 
vicious,  and  the  vicious  to  act  hyi:)Ocritically." 

Being  wearied  with  quotations,  a  volume  of  which  I 
could  give,  in  jjroof  of  the  distracted  and  uncertain 
condition  of  religion,  we  will  next  look  into  the  cause 
of  this  unfortunate  condition  of  the  Christian  world,  and 
then  prescribe  a  remedy.  Did  we  but  know  what  makes 
Mahometans  honest,  and  Christian  jDrofessors  rogues,  we 
should  at  once  be  able  to  prescribe  a  cure  ;  but  in  lack  of 
this  knowledge,  we  must  resort  to  palliatives.     In  this 


TUEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  197 

Christian  land,  it  is  your  life  or  your  money,  while  in 
Turkey  life  and  j^roperty  are  both  held  sacred  ;  so  much 
so,  that  all  history  tells  us  so,  and  every  traveler  is  struck 
with  the  foct.  All  goods  are  left  exposed,  and,  excejit 
thei-e  are  Christians  about,  their  doors  are  not  shut.  I 
saw  Capt.  Partridge,  a  well  known  military  teacher  of 
the  United  States,  directly  fi-om  Turkey,  and  he  told  that 
all  he  had  read  of  the  Turks'  honesty  was  true.  This  can 
not  be  that  Mahomet  set  a  better  example  to  honesty 
than  Christ,  but  that  his  preachers  and  teachers  better 
understand  the  training  of  the  human  mind  than  those 
of  Christ ;  for,  as  I  shall  show,  Ave  are  creatures  of 
education ;  and  that  whole  nations  may  be  led  into 
paths  of  virtue  or  vice  by  their  rulers  or  guides.  Long 
and  close  observation  has  convinced  me  that  the  great 
fault  in  our  system  of  training  men  to  honesty,  is  the  loss 
of  confidence  in  the  truth  of  Christianity,  owing,  in  a 
great  degree,  to  our  controversial  divinity  (theology)  ; 
for  who  can  have  full  confidence  in  a  thi^g  so  doubtful 
as  to  admit  of  disputes  and  divisions  amongst  those  who 
set  themselves  up  as  judges  of  that  thing?  Thus  the 
flock  is  divided,,  scattered,  and  bleating  about — lost  in 
confusion.  Professors  now  will  grant  this  to  be  unfor- 
tunately 80,  and  yet  affirm  tlie  Bible  to  be  simple,  and 
certainly  true,  and  admitted  by  all — a  paradox  indeed — 
yes,  a  self-contradiction  ;  for  that  which  is  certain  and 
admitted  by  all,  admits  of  no  discussion,  disputes,  or 
doubts  by  any  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  whole  is  greater  than 
a  part,  and  that  two  and  two  make  four.  Frankly 
and  honestly  speaking,  we  have  all  lost  confidence,  more 
or  less,  in  the  Bible,  and  consequently  that  humility, 
nKM'knosH,  kiiidnc^ss,  long-suffering,  charity,  etc.,  of  the 
priinitiv*!  brotluirliood  is  no  more;  nor  have  we  any 
martyrs,  even  to  the  loss  of  a  <loIlai"  these  dayK.  llatrcMl 
lo    Hicir    linl  Incii    [iriilr   dC  |i;ii(y .  ;iiid  (iHiirli    |);iia|»inr 

IS 


198  THE   TRUE    PIIILOSOniY   OF   MIND. 

nalia,  will  draw  a  little  from  love  of  pride  and  self;  and 
he  who  may  wish  to  be  prayed  out  of  purgatory  or  hell 
will  put  up  more  freely.  The  sacrifice  of  gain  in  traffic 
to  truth  and  honesty  is  no  longer  known  to  a  Christian 
profession  ;  but  money  is  our  god,  aiid  worldly  pride 
and  power  is  the  ruling  passion  of  the  day. 

In  addition  to  the  false  and  contradicting  constructions 
put  upon  the  simple  words  of  God,  by  learned  theology, 
we  certainly  have  many  mistranslations,  interpolations, 
and  wilful  forgeries  in  our  Bible,  calculated  to  increase 
our  doubts,  and  consequent  disregard  for  its  commands. 
Good  old  William  Paley,  author  of  Moral  Philosophy, 
says,  in  his  defense  of  Christianity:  "It  would  be  very 
unsafe  to  establish  for  the  Jewish  history,  what  never 
was  established  for  any  other  history — that  every  word 
in  it  must  be  true,  or  every  word  false  ;  as  this  would  be 
to  sacrifice  Christianity  upon  the  altars  of  Judaism."  He 
shows  many  passages  to  be  evidently  false — contrary  to 
common  sense,  and  derogatory  to  the  character  of  God 
himself  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  in  his  letters  to  Bishop 
Horsley,  affirms  the  same ;  and  I  could  fill  a  volume 
with  quotations  from  the  most  pious  writers  in  the 
world,  all  to  the  same  efffect.  Let  any  man  of  honest 
and  feeling  heart,  with  the  high  estimate  every  Christian 
should  have  of  his  Creator,  but  read  the  Old  Testament 
for  himself,  and  he  will  there  find  things  falsely  recorded 
as  by  the  will  of  God,  that  would  make  a  decent  man 
blush.  Yes,  and  such  other  things  as  no  honest  man 
could  be  guilty  of.  The  two  cases  herein  named,  of 
lying  and  stealing  jewels  from  the  Egyptians,  and  of 
perfidy  and  littleness  far  below  the  dignity  and  honor 
of  man,  in  sending  an  angel  to  betray  Ahab  and  have 
him  murdered.  In  other  parts  it  is  said,  that  "  Lying 
lips  are  an  abomination  to  the  Lord."  This  every 
Christian   will    recognize   as   of  Divine  authority.     But 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  199 

establish  the  two  cases  here  named,  with  many  others 
equally  atrocious,  and  who  is  there  but  could  lie,  steal, 
and  murder,  and  justify  it,  by  Scripture  record,  as  the 
will  of  God.     Again:   God  is  made  to  falsify,  and  was 
boldly  told  of  it  face  to  face,  and  made  to  retract.      I 
will  make  a  short   quotation    or  two  more,  to    set  the 
reader  to  thinking :     "  And  Jehovah  spake  with  Moses 
face  to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto  his  friend."     Exod. 
xxxiii:  1,  11.     "And  Moses  returneth  to  the  Lord,  and 
said,  Lord,  wherefore  hast  thou  so  evil  entreated  this 
people  ?     Why  is  it  that  thou  hast  sent  mc  ?     For  since 
I  came  to  Pharaoh  to  speak  in  thy  name,  he  hath  done 
evil  to  this    people;    neither   hast    thou    delivered   thy 
people  at  all.     And  Jehovah  said   unto   Moses :   I  have 
seen  this  people  (I    do   wonder  if   God   did  not  see  it 
before  he  thus  committed  himself),  and  behold  it  is  a 
stiff-necked   people.     Now,  therefore  let  mo  alone,  that 
my  wrath  may  wax  hot  against  them,  that  I  may  con- 
sume them.     And  Moses  besought  Jehovah  his  God,  and 
said  :  Lord  why  doth  thy  wrath  wax  hot — turn  from  thy 
fiery  wrath,  and  repent  of  this  evil  against  thy  people. 
And  the  Lord  repented  of  the  evil  which  he  thought  to 
do  unto  his  people."      It  seems,  however,  he    did    not 
repent  till    Moses  rebuked    him    face    to   face ;    and    in 
another  place,  the    Lord  was  reminded  of  the  solemn 
oath  he  had  taken  to  support  the  Jews,  which  oath  he 
was  accused  of  violating.     Here  is  a  passage,  pronounc- 
ing the  above  record  false:     "The  strength  of  Israel  will 
not  repent;  for  he  is  not  a  man  that  he  should  repent." 
Many,  many  passages    might    be   given,  where   God  is 
mad,  mutable,  and   mean  ;  and  others,  in  contradiction, 
making  hirii  iniinulublo,  honorable,  and  just.     But  to  be 
done  witli  authority,  T  refer  every  wor8hi]ier  of  a  line 
(lod  to   {\\r  h<»ol<,  that  he  may  rvnd   l'»r    himsell',  and    he; 
will    sir    whcif   :i<(s   oC   IVainI,   <tf'   ciiicHv.  ami   nt  cdM 


200  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP    MIND. 

blooded  butcheries  have  been  perpetrated  in   the  name 
of  a  just  and  feeling  God. 

Having  given,  in  as  short  a  space  as  possible,  ample 
proof  of  the  distracted  state  of  the  human  family  in 
regard  to  what  constitutes  our  duty  to  each  other  and 
our  serving  our  God,  I  next  ask  who  is  to  be  umpire 
or  judge  of  all  these  matters,  and  whether  it  is  not  safer 
for  every  man  to  be  his  own  judge,  as  "  every  tub  must 
stand  upon  its  own  bottom?"  But  few  readers  may  know 
the  fact  that  one  uninspired  and  prejudiced  man  has 
put  it  upon  all  men  to  believe  as  he  did,  or  suffer  the 
imputation  of  heresy.  Three  hundred  and  twenty-five 
years  after  Christ  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  bishops 
met  at  Nice,  and  there  and  then,  for  the  first  time,  collected 
and  assorted  the  various  gospels  and  epistles,  making 
a  book  called  the  New  Testament ;  and  the  history  of  this 
council  justifies  me  in  the  belief  that  there  were  many 
errors  embodied  in  that  book,  for  they  had  no  more 
authority  than  you  or  I  to  judge  of  what  was  or  was  not 
inspiration.  Alexander,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  and  Arius, 
who,  at  the  head  of  their  parties,  disgracefully  quarreled 
for  near  two  months  about  what  was  divine  and  what 
spurious,  and  the  result  was  to  throw  out  about  one  half 
(since  published  under  the  title  of  Apocryphal  New 
Testament,)  and  one  volume  bears  the  stamp  of  divinity 
as  much  as  the  other.  They  there  disputed,  however,  as 
leaders  of  parties  are  prone  to  do,  till  Constantine,  Em- 
peror, threatened  to  disperse  them  if  they  did  not  conduct 
themselves  more  orderly.  Eead  what  Alexander  said  of 
Arius  and  party :  "  They  were  heretics,  apostates,  blas- 
phemers, enemies  of  God,  full  of  impudence  and  iniquity, 
forerunners  of  antichrist,  imitators  of  Judas,  and  men 
whom  it  was  not  lawful  to  salute  or  bid  God  speed." 
Yes,  and  what  might  be  expected  in  retalliation  from 
men   of  selfish  feeling  and   of  vile  jmrty  religion  ?     The 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION SCIENCE.  201 

same  gross  and  disgraceful  language  was  hurled  back 
with  Satanic  piety  upon  Alexander  and  his  monop- 
olizing party.  Sabinus,  Bishop  of  Heraclea,  says  of  this 
council :  "  They  were,  with  the  exception  of  Constantine 
and  Eusebius  Pamphili,  a  set  of  illiterate  simple  creatures 
that  understood  nothing.''  And  Passias,  in  his  Synodican 
to  that  council,  makes  known  that  "  they  promiscuously 
put  all  the  books  that  were  referred  to  the  council  for 
determination  under  the  communion  table,  in  a  church  ; 
then  besought  the  Lord  to  aid  them  in  assorting  them, 
and  that  the  inspired  writings  might  get  upon  the  table 
while  the  spurious  ones  remained  under  the  table;  and 
it  happened  accordingly."  But  it  is  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  Alexander,  having  the  keys,  did  the  work 
himselfl  Here  in  this  council  did  Alexander  get  up 
the  first  creed,  a  bone  of  contention  thrown  in  by  Satan 
himself,  over  which  the  clergy  have  fought  with  more 
malignity  than  dogs  would  over  a  bone  of  flesh,  having 
roasted  each  other  alive.  These  facts  must  convince 
every  reader  that  these  men  of  the  Nicene  council,  who 
selected  and  handed  down  to  us  our  religion,  were  men 
and  nothing  but  men,  honest  and  well  designing  no 
doubt,  yet  no  better,  no  worse  than  ourselves,  and  no 
more  right  to  judge  than  ourselves. 

In  further  proof  of  the  position  I  hold,  that  the  Bible  has 
been  greatly  corrupted,  both  by  design  and  by  ignorance, 
I  here  give  one  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton's  letters,  published 
by  Bishop  Horsley :  "  If  the  ancient  churches,  in  de- 
bating and  deciding  the  greatest  mysteries  of  religion, 
knew  nothing  of  these  two  texts,  I  understand  not  why 
we  should  be  so  fond  of  them,  now  the  debates  are  over. 
And  while  it  is  the  character  of  an  honest  man  to  bo 
pleased,  and  of  a  man  of  interest  to  bo  troubled  at  the 
detection  of  fraud,  and  of  both  to  run  most  into  those 
passions  when  the   detection   is   made   plainest,  1   hope 


202  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

this  letter  will,  to  one  of  your  integrity,  prove  so  much 
the  more  acceptable,  as  it  makes  a  farther  discovery  of 
frauds  with  the  Bible  than  you  have  hitherto  met  with  in 
commentators."  He  goes  on  to  speak  of  many  gross  and 
grievous  interpolations  and  corruptions  committed  both 
by  the  Latins  and  the  Greeks,  as  well  as  by  more  modern 
creed-makers.  Mosheim,  in  his  Church  History,  says  of 
this  Nicene  council,  whose  uninspired,  blind  and  pre- 
judiced selections  we  are  bid  to  hold  as  emaculate  :  "  The 
divine  maxims  of  Christ  and  the  teachings  of  the  New 
Testament  were  entirely  disregarded  by  the  Ecclesias- 
tics who  modelled  the  church  under  Constantine." 
And  farther:  "Let  no  one  confound  the  bishops  of  the 
golden  age  of  the  first  two  centuries,  with  those  who 
came  after  them,  for  piety,  sincerity,  brotherly  love  and 
friendship."  He  further  says  that  the  Hebrews  cor- 
rupted the  sacred  records  of  the  New  Testament  in  order 
to  make  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  as 
ridiculous  and  incredible  as  possible  ;  and  that  it  was  the 
interest  and  feelings  of  the  early  Christians  to  do  the 
same  with  their  cruel  persecutors,  the  Jews. 

Thus  I  think  I  have  amply  proven,  by  historical  facts, 
that  the  human  mind  is  governed  in  all  nations  and  in 
all  ages  by  the  circumstances  under  which  it  is  placed, 
and,  consequently,  not  an  inborn,  infallible  and  immu- 
mutable  thing ;  but  a  thing  of  education,  and  may  be 
made  ignorant  or  wise,  and  vicious  and  virtuous,  accord- 
ing to  circumstances  ;  and  all  this  I  have  more  fully  shown 
under  the  article  of  volition.  To  know  the  power  of 
education  and  the  degrading  influence  one  man  may 
have  over  millions  of  his  fellow-mortals  is  but  to  cast 
your  eyes  into  China  and  the  vast  east,  and  there  see 
more  than  half  the  human  family  now  on  this  globe 
worshiping  to  the  dictation  of  one  theologian,  Confucius, 
who  lived  five  hundred  and  fifty-one  years  before  the 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  203 

birth  of  Christ.  Then  turn  your  eyes  to  Persia  and 
behold  the  millions  who  are  sacrificing  their  infants  and 
even  their  own  lives  to  the  Magian  religion,  founded  by 
Zoroaster  and  Pythagoras,  about  the  same  date  as  above. 
Next  look  over  into  Ai*abia  and  behold  the  Mussulman, 
the  bravest  soldiers  in  the  world,  willing  to  rush  to  the 
cannon's  mouth  to  defend  the  faith  of  their  prophet, 
the  great  theologian  of  Persia.  Then  look  at  the  power 
of  the  Pope,  who  held  the  whole  Christian  world  under 
his  thumb,  and  who  could  detln-one  crowned  heads  and 
give  whole  continents  away  as  he  might  fancy.  Yes, 
and  in  farther  fulfillment  of  the  influence  of  one  man 
over  many,  Martin  Luther  broke  those  adamantine  chains 
that  bound  heaven,  hell  and  earth  to  the  triumphant 
car  of  the  supreme  ruler  of  the  Christian  world.  True> 
millions  had  seen  Christianity  dwindle  down  as  it  again 
has  done  to  a  mci-e  cold  and  formal  profession,  and  were 
prepared  for  the  reformation,  wanting  only  a  leader. 
The  reader  may  say,  true,  sir ;  I  have  read  enough  in  your 
little  book  to  see  that  mankind  have,  from  age  to  age, 
vacillated  in  error,  and  that  they  have  ever  been 
under  the  control  of  a  few  leaders  ;  but  can  man,  with 
that  taint  and  tendency  to  superstition  which  you  have 
shown  him  to  have  in  his  nature,  and  the  craven  creduli- 
ty you  have  also  given  him  to  submit  to  imposition 
and  falsehood,  ever  be  brought  to  the  standard  of  truth? 
and,  in  fact,  where  is  that  standard,  if  any  there  be, 
which  can  be  acknowledged  by  all  mankind?  I  answer 
to  this  question  that  the  remedy  for  this  evil  is  in  one 
single  sentence,  and  if  ])reachers  and  teachers  will  but 
recognize  atwl  enforce  it,  the  world  may  be  cured  of  its 
evils.  It  is  this:  but  to  grant  that  the  God  of  the 
universe,  the  God  who  made  us  an<l  sustains  us,  is  the 
(jnly  object  woi'Uiy  of  worsliijt  ;  and  as  virtue,  truth, 
honor  and    justice   arc;   his  attributes,  they  are   the  best 


2U-J:  THE    TRUE    PIIILOSOrilY    OF    MIND. 

standard  of  man's  actions,  and  this  is  all.     The  honest 
readoi"  may  say :  very  good  ;  but  we  Christians  have  alwaj's 
professed  to   worship  a  Clod,  and  yet  we  are  dishonest 
and  vicious,  though,  I    must   grant,  we   have   not  wor- 
shiped a  God  of  truth,  of  honesty,  or  of  honor,  and  this 
may  be  that  so  many  follow  the  example  of  the  god  thus 
worshiped,    and    consequently,    be    as    corrupt    as    he. 
And  now  we  come  to  the  gi-eat  and  solemn  question  of 
the  government  of  man,  who  is  said  by  our  teachers, 
to  have  an   incurable  perversity  in  his  nature   (and  if 
in    his   natiire,  of   course   given    by  God)  that  nothing 
can  cure   but   the   power   of   God   who  gave   it;  which 
teachings  I  pronounce  to  be  false,  and  hold  them  to  be 
slanderous  to  man  and  to  God,  and  dangerous  to  society, 
which  has  greatly  suffered  by  them.     If  God  has  given 
man  power  to   do  anything,  it  is  certainly  to  be  good, 
otherwise  he  is  not  a  good  God,  no,  nor  a  wise  one,  for 
it  would  take  him  all  his  time  in  undoing  his  own  works  ; 
as  in  every  good  act  of  man,  it  must  be  seen  that  God 
would  have  to  be  present  to  change  the  man  from  the 
nature  he  himself  had  given  him.     The  greatest  dullard 
in  mental  science  must  at  once  see  that  this  universal 
preaching  from  our  puljjits  to  wait  till  God  shall  give  us 
a  clean  heart  and  renew  in  us  a  right  spirit,  is  a  divine 
license  to  evil  ;  for  if  God   has  decreed  man   to  vice,  ho 
has  a  right  to  it.     Under  this  conviction  of  our  church 
teachings,  a  horse  thief,  if  met  by  God  in  the  stable  for 
the  purpose  of  changing  him,  might,  as  an  honest  man, 
boldly  face  him  and  say  :  "  You  can  not  accuse  me  of 
a  wrong  in  acting  in   accordance  with  the  nature  you 
gave  me."     Had  I  room  to  moralize  upon  our  past  teach- 
ings I  could  demonstrate  their  great  evil  and  show  that 
we  shall  never  have  an   honest  community  while   it  is 
taught  we  have  no  power  to  do  good.     But  I  must  close 
with  a  few  more  remarks. 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  205 

We  should,  by  revision,  at  once  get  rid  of  all  the  slan- 
ders in  the  Bible  against  our  God,  for  so  long  as  we  wor- 
ship a  false,  vicious,  and  dishonest  god,  will  we  be   false, 
vicious,    and    dishonest.     I   am   bold   to   say,  we   should 
admit  nothing  derogatory  to    the  character  of   the  one 
true,  and  holy  God  ;  then,  indeed,  would  we  be  one  peo- 
ple, with   one   faith,  one   church,  and   one    God.     Some 
nations,  (showing  what  the  human  mind  can    be  brought 
to)  have  no  devil,  but  two  gods;  one  vicious  and  vengeful, 
the  other  kind  and  just;  that  is,  a  good  and  a  bad  god; 
the  bad  god  receiving  almost  all  the  worship,  sacrifices, 
and  i)rayers  of  the  nation,  particularly  evil  doers,  because 
they  fear  him ;  and  just  so  with  our  God,  who  is  repre- 
sented in  the  Jewish  records,  and  in  modern  preaching  as 
a  jealous,  vengeful,  jjassionate,  fickle-minded,  lying,  steal- 
ing, murdering,  and  unfeeling  sort  of  a  god,  who  deter- 
mines to  destroy  his  people  one  day,  and  regrets  his  rash- 
ness next,  as  in  the  case  where  Moses  told  him,  face  to 
face,  "  as  one  man  talketh  to  another,"  that  he  had  falsified, 
and  failed  to  come  up  to  his  promises ;  and  then  it  was, 
and  not  till  then,  when  afraid  of  consequences,  he  backed 
out,  and  said  he  "regretted  of  the  evil  he  had  intended  to 
do  unto  his  people!"     Nor  does  this  slander  stand  alone, 
for  there  are  many  otlicrs,  only  one  more  of  which  1  will 
name.     The  knavish  and  luxurious  priesthood  persuaded 
the  people  that  our  Creator  was  as  fond    of  bai'becued 
meats  as  we  are,  and  that  to  send  up  a  "sweet  savour  to 
the  Lord"  would  induce  him  to    immediately  alter  his 
eternal  and    immutable  decrees,  not  knowing   that   this 
world  turned  over,  so  that  up  one  hour  was  down  next; 
l>ut  tliought  it  a  flat,  fixed  speck  of  earth,  and  that  God 
lived  just  a  little  above  us,   and  would  quickly  smell  the 
fryirjg    oi'    iiK-als.     But  so  it  was,  the  "Lord   smeUed    a 
sweet  savor,  and   IIk^   Lord  said   in  his  heart,  '1  will   ritH 
again  curse  tlio  ground  any  more  for  man's  sake.'  "     Tims 


206  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

were  the  eternal  purposes  of  Almighty  God    controlled 
simply  by  the  "sweet  savor,"  while  the  priests  got  all  the 
rich  flavor,  and  the  well  roasted  meats.     Just  hear  what 
those   priests   say  to   the  peoj)le :    "But  ye  shall  oifcr  a 
buimt  offering,  for  a  sweet  savor  unto  the  Lord.     Ye  shall 
offer  a  burnt  offering,  a  sacrfice  made  by  fire  o£  a  sweet 
savor  unto  the  Lord ;    thirteen  bullocks,  two  rams,  and 
fourteen  lambs  of  the  first  year  !"     But  now  comes  out  a 
rational  and  divine    contradiction    of    all  their  culinary 
trickery.     "  I  will  take  no  bullock  out  of  thy  house,  nor 
he  goats  out  of  thy  folds ;  for  every  beast  of  the  forest  is 
mine,  and  the  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills.      If  I  were 
hungry,  I  would  not  tell  thee ;  for  the  world  is  mine,  and 
the  fulness  thereof.     Will  I  eat  the  flesh  of  bulls,  or  drink 
the   blood   of   goats?"     Farther,   "Ofi'er   unto  the  Lord, 
thanksgiving."      Psalm  1 :    "  Thou  desirest   not  sacrifice, 
else  I  would  give  it ;  thou  delightest  not  in  burnt  offer- 
ings."    "  To  what  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices  unto 
me,  saith  the  Lord.     I  am  full  of  the  burnt  offerings  of 
rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts  (such  as  the  priests  were 
fond  of)  ;  and  I  delight  not  in  the  blood  of  bullocks,  or  of 
lambs,  or  of  he-goats."     Isaiah,  i  :  11 ;  "Wherewith  shall 
I  come  before  Jehovah,  and  bow  myself  before  the  high 
God."  "  Shall  I  come  before  him  with  burnt  offerings,  with 
calves  (which  are  very  good  when  well  cooked)  of  a  year 
old  ?     Will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with  thousands  of  rams, 
(like   the  priests,)  or  with  ten   thousand  rivers    of  oil? 
Shall  I  give  my  first  born  for  my  transgressions,  the  fruit 
of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul?     He  hath  showed 
thee,  O  man,  what  is  good ;  and  what  doth  Jehovah  require 
of  thee  but  to  do  justice,  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God."     Micah  vi :  6-8. 

The  reader  may  see  by  this  that  we  must  get  rid  of  the 
inconsistencies,  and  the  slanders  upon  Christ,  and  upon 
the  New  Testament  before  we  can  have  full  fjxith  in  our 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  207 

book  of  faith,  or  an  honest  community.     Why  theologists 
should  hold  so  pertinaciously  to  the  Jewish  records  I  can 
not  conceive,  when  they  know  that  nation  to  have  been 
the   most   rebellious,  cold-blooded,  cruel,  and   perfidious 
people  on  earth  ;  so  much  so  that  they  have  been  cursed 
of  God  and  scattered  abroad.     They  slandered  God  ;  per- 
secuted, betrayed,  and  murdered  Christ ;  and  yet,  as  good 
old  William  Paley  says,  we  by  our  leaders,  are  ordered  to 
sacrifice  (not   only    Christ,)  but   Christianity  upon    the 
altars  of  Judeaism.     I  say  it  again,  and  for  the  last  time 
in  this  article,  that  man  is  governed  by  his  education,  and 
that  the  only  way  of  bringing  him  to  truth  and  honesty, 
is  to  give  him  confidence  in  a  truthful  and  honest  God, 
through  his  mighty  and  marvellous  works.    "  The  heavens 
declare  the  glory  of    God,  and  the   firmament   showeth 
forth  his  handy  work ;  day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and 
night  unto  night  showeth  knowledge  !  "    "  Thine,  O  Lord, 
is  the  greatness,  and  the  glory,  and  the  majesty,  for  all 
that  is  in  heaven,  and  in  earth  is  thine."     "Lift  up  your 
eyes  on  high,  and  behold  who  hath  created  these  things, 
who  bringeth  forth  the  host  by  numbers  ;  I,  the  Lord, 
who   made   all   things."      And,   again,  "We   know  God 
(says  the  apostle)  by  the  things  that  are  made."     Thus  it 
is  that  the  Scriptures  themselves  gives  us  a  knowledge  of 
God,   through   his  works.     Doctor  Chandler,  the   great 
advocate  for  the  Christian  religion,  says :  "  Natural  religion 
is  the  only  foundation  upon  which  revelation  can  be  sup- 
ported, and  which  must  be  understood  before  any  man  is 
( apablo  of  judging,  either  of  the  nature  or  evidences  of 
Christianity;  and  I  am  persuaded  it  is  to  the  want  of  a 
diKr  knowledge  of  tlie  first  pi-inciplcs  of  all  religion,  those 
niistukcH  about  tlu;  Christian  religion  arc  owing,  that  have 
obsciired  the  Hini])licity  of  it,  and  prejudiced  many  good 
people  from  entertaining  and  believing  in  it." 

These  arc  exactly  my  sentiments,  and  from  the  exalted 


208  THE    TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

opinions  I  have  of  the  God  of  nature,  I  never  could  have 
had  faith  in  the  Bible  doctrines,  with  its   Jewish   false- 
hoods, but  for  the  simple,  the  beautiful,  the  kind,  and  the 
lovely  character  of  Jesus,  whose  whole  life  being  without  a 
spot  or  a  blemish,  I  have  been  forced,  in  despite  of  my 
doubts,  to  believe  in  his  divinity,  and  to  love  him  dearly. 
And  yet,  when  I  read  the  Old  Testament,  and  there  see 
the  detestable  cruelties,  frauds,  and  impositions  practiced 
by  the  Jews,  and  that  most  impiously,  in  the  name,  and 
by  the   authority  of   a  great,  kind,  and  holy  God,  I  at 
once  have  an  unavoidable  doubt  of  the  whole  fabric  of 
our  faith,  and  this  is  why  I  wish  to  purge  the  book  of  its 
disgusting  filth,  and  of  the  gross  slanders  against  the  God 
I  worship.     The  clergy,  who  have  acquired  a  low  estimate 
of  the  petty  and  fickle  god  of  the  Jews,  as  represented 
by  them,  must  exalt  their  views  of  God,  by  the  study  (as 
the  pious  Doctor  Chandler  has  said,)  of  his"  natural  reve- 
lation, before  they  can  ever  make  an  honest  community, 
or  a  worthy  Christian ;  for  God,  in  disgust,  has  deserted 
our  country  as  he  did  the  Jewish  nation,  and  left  it  in  full' 
and  unstaid  possession  of  Satan,  who  is  nightly  tempting 
debaucheries,  forgeries,  perjuries,  robberies,  and  murders, 
which  fill  the  columns  of  our  daily  papers.     Yes,  as  I 
have  before  said,  and  will  repeat,  God's  illustrated  book 
of  nature,  speaking  in  the  unmistaken  language  of  God 
himself,  is  ever    open   before   us  with   its    classifications 
simple  and   its   nomenclature   perfect.     As    the  light   of 
heaven  is  adapted  with  kindness  to  every  eye,  so  is  the 
language  of  nature  to  every  tongue  and  capacity  on  earth. 
The  outer  eye  requires  no  arbitrary  learning,  nor  does 
the  inner  eye  of  the  mind;  it  is  but  to  open  either  and 
see  for  ourselves.     From  the  grand  and  colossal  exhibi- 
tions of    nature,  we  infer  boundless  power,  and  infinite 
wisdom,  and  from  the  exquisite  designs — adaptation    of 
means  to  ends,  we  infer  a  Designer.     Throu,g-h  immensity, 


THEOLOGY — RELIGION — SCIENCE.  209 

we  launch  into  eternity,  and  in  endless  variety  wo  find 
perfect  unity.  Transcendent  beauty,  order,  and  harmony 
fill  all  the  departments  of  God's  vast  domains,  while 
vitality  and  thrift  spring  from  every  pore  in  nature. 
Search  from  the  depths  of  old  ocean's  oozy  bed  to  the 
concave  heavens  which  span  the  whirling  globe,  and  from 
the  hidden  coverts  of  earth  to  the  starlit  skies,  and  all 
is  filled  with  life  and  activity.  The  glowing  heavens  are 
replete  with  light,  and  the  laws  that  rule  the  celestial 
orbs,  while  the  waters  beneath  team  with  organic  being. 
Plenitude  and  power  is  seen  everywhere,  and  the  unmis- 
taken  presence  of  the  great  Jehovah  is  made  manifest  to 
the  most  common  observer.  Ciod's  own  hand  writing  is 
seen  upon  the  face  of  nature,  leaving  no  room  for  subtle 
follies  or  verbal  quibbling.  Those  glittering  diadems 
that  stud  the  mighty  dome  of  heaven  are  the  crowning 
glory  of  God,  and  the  gi*een  earth,  with  its  rolling  rivers, 
its  waving  forests,  and  blooming  lawns,  are  all  sweet  ex- 
positors of  their  Maker's  greatness  and  goodness.  We  see 
worlds,  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  worlds,  and  on, 
and  on  are  worlds,  and  systems  of  worlds  beyond  worlds, 
while  this  globe  on  which  we  stand  is  whirling  with  light- 
ning speed  upon  its  axis,  and  shooting  forward  with  a 
velocity  two  hundred  times  greater  than  a  cannon  ball, 
on  its  bidden  round  througli  trackless  space,  spilling  not 
one  drop  of  water,  nor  disturbing  a  tender  twig.  O  God, 
Almighty  God,  thine  infinite  greatness  and  tender  good- 
ness are  unknown  to  the  professed  ministers.  Poor 
specks  of  creation,  who,  by  aid  of  the  rebellious  and 
wicked  Jews,  aim  to  slander  thy  greatness  and  thj^  good- 
ness in  bringing  thee  down  to  little,  dirty,  and  dishonest 
tricks,  that  W(;uhl  make  the  "angels  weep  to  see."  We 
!ir(!  fanned  by  tln^  life-giving  zephyrs,  soft  as  aiig(^I  whis- 
pers, freighted  willi  I  lie  lurest.  Iragrance,  iiioi-e  pleasing  to 
t  111'  uHactories  uC  (iml    lln-    Maker,  lh;iii  IIm'  siik-II   i>('  miiv 


210  THE   TRUE    rillLOSOPHY   OF    MIND. 

kind  of  cookery,  saving  that  of  rams,  bulls,  and  billy- 
goats.  O,  poor,  ignorant,  and  vain  worms  of  the  dust, 
and  of  a  day,  to  suppose  God  has  made  all  things  for  their 
special  benefit,  when  thou  knowest  not  of  what  he  has 
made. 

"  Bohold,  says  man,  all  things  made  for  my  use. 
And  man  for  mine,  replied  the  pampered  goose." 

And  now,  having  spoken  with  some  severity  against 
controversial  theology,  in  theorizing  and  allegorizing  the 
Bible,  as  it  has  done,  to  the  distraction  and  almost  de- 
struction of  religion,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  say  that  my 
heart  and  hand  is  with  practical  theology ;  in  other  words, 
with  good  and  pious  preachers,  and  my  life  fully  shows 
this  part.  I  have  clothed  and  fed  our  missionaries 
amongst  savages  of  the  far  West,  which  some  yet  liv- 
ing can  testify ;  and  I  have  contributed  as  largely  as  any 
man  in  Kentucky,  to  charity  and  church  purposes. 
Moreover,  I  have  never  traveled  with  a  clergyman  that 
I  did  not  ask  the  privilege,  and  take  pleasure  in  paying 
his  bills.  As  I  have  elsewhere  said,  that  religion  is  the 
plainest  and  most  unmistaken  thing  in  the  world.  It  is 
simply  a  tie  between  a  sincere  and  pious  heart,  and  the 
God  who  made  it,  that  no  power  on  earth  or  in  hell  can 
sever,  and  which  no  theological  learning  can  better ; 
and  I  am  well  assured,  from  actual  observation,  that  our 
little,  embrowned,  poppinjay  circuit  riders  (as  pampered 
theology  calls  them,)  of  the  far  West,  at  whose  hungry 
coming  the  chickens  instinctively  fly,  have  more  true  and 
saving  religion  than  the  learned  and  adored  theologists  of 
Europe,  whose  vast  salaries,  filched  from  the  pockets  of 
the  people  by  law,  enable  them  to  hire  their  vicars  to  do 
the  drudgery  of  preaching,  while  they  stay  at  home  and 
crack  jokes  ever  their  inspiring  wine  ;  and  this,  in  reality 
is  the  only  inspiration  that  great  and  learned  theology 
generally  has. 


INSTINCT.  211 

I  think  now,  in  view  of  the  facts  in  the  foregoing  essay, 
that  the  reader  may  thank  me  for  opening  his  eyes  to  the 
present  condition  of  the  moral  and  religious  world ;  and 
with  kindly  feelings  do  I  here  say  to  my  brethren  (the 
clergy,)  that  when  I  speak  of  some,  I  do  not  mean  all,  for 
well  I  know  that  many  labor  faithfully  for  the  good  of 
souls,  while  others  counteract  the  success  of  their  pious 
efforts. 


WHAT  IS  INSTINCT  ? 


Instinct  I  hold  to  be  simply  the  nature  of  a  thing— be 
that  what  it  may.  The  instinct  of  gold  is  its  inherent 
properties  that  make  it  what  it  is.  The  instinct  of 
organic  being  is  its  laws  of  life  that  make  it  what  it 
is.  It  is  instinct  in  a  bird  to  have  feathers  and  fly  in 
the  air ;  while  with  a  beast  it  is  to  have  hair  and  to  walk 
on  the  earth.  Every  gift  of  God  is  an  instinct,  and  the 
why,  the  how,  and  the  what,  must  be  left  with  hira — 
which  will  save  a  vast  waste  of  paper,  brains,  and  money. 

If  asked  why  it  is  that  chickens  and  ducks  hatched 
under  the  same  hen  will  one  run  into  the  water  and  the 
other  from  it?  I  can  only  answer.  It  is  because  of  their 
nature ;  and  the  question  is  with  God,  why  he  made  them 
80.  There  is  nothing  more  thoughtless  and  silly  than 
these  questions  about  instinct — which  is  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  the  nature  of  a  thing;  which  nature  is  the 
result  of  its  laws,  Ktani])e(l  u])on  it  from  first  creation, 
that  makes  it  what  it  is  and  notliing  else,  and  thus  is 
the  qiKistion  coiiHtantly  returned  ujton  Deity.  There 
arf   fio   two    iinii    on    cmiIIi,    tlioii<:;h    ol     the    same    raiuilv 


212  THE    TRUE    PIIILOSOPUY    OF    MIND. 

and  name,  exactly  alike,  either  in  mind  or  body;  nor  is 
this  variety  by  whim  of  free-will  or  by  accident,  but  by  a 
fixed  and  fatal  cause — no  effects  (recollect)  withoiit  a  first 
cause.  If  (as  free-willers  and  teachers  of  casualty  affirm) 
wo  can  do  as  we  please,  that  pleasure  to  do,  being  some- 
thing, must  have  been  caused  by  something,  and  that 
again  by  something  else ;  so  that,  it  will  be  seen,  we  are 
led  back  along  the  fated  chain  of  causality  to  Deity  him- 
self— the  Great  First  Cause  of  all  things.  Thus  having 
given  a  guide  to  the  study  of  nature,  we  will  go  on  to 
results. 

The  cruel  and  silly  experiment  made  by  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Bocrhave  to  prove  that  brutes  have  instincts  (a  thing 
by  nature  self-evident)  has  figured  through  all  the  works 
on  instinct  from  his  day  to  this.  Doubting  whether  the 
knowledge  of  brutes  was  by  instruction  from  the  parent, 
or  from  instinct,  he  opened  a  goat,  and  taking  out  the 
kid,  put  it  in  a  room  where  he  had  placed  milk,  corn, 
hay,  and  oil ;  and  the  kid,  after  smelling  around  and 
refusing  all  else,  at  last  came  to  the  milk  and  sucked  it. 
Now,  the  mother  being  dead  before  the  birth  of  its 
young,  could  have  given  it  no  instruction  ;  therefore 
congenital  instinct  is  inevitable.  A  wonderful  discovery 
indeed.  Caesar,  who  was  taken  from  his  dead  mother's 
womb,  I  presume  sucked  milk,  just  as  did  the  kid.  It  is 
no  great  discovery,  or  secret,  that  children  suck  more 
perfectly  at  birth  than  adults  do. 

All  animals,  I  have  observed,  are  led  to  their  proper 
food  by  smell — having  watched  them  for  hours — partic- 
ularly cattle  feeding  amidst  a  great  variety  of  herbs, 
where  poisonous  and  succulent  plants  grew  side-by-side ; 
passing  over  one  and  instantly  grajjpling  the  other,  as 
though  instructed  by  immediate  wisdom  from  above. 
JSTow,  God  himself,  as  is  generally  taught,  was  neither 
ill  liic  iiK^utli   iH»r  the  ncjsc  of  the  cow   to  direct  its  .ju<lg- 


INSTINCT. 


213 


meut;    but   he   was   the   author   of  that  law  which    he 
interwove  into  all  organic  matter.     The  male  of  all  ani- 
mals can  tell,  by  their  law  of  nature,  when  the  female 
is  in  season  to  receive  them,  and  dogs  can  tell,  by  this 
wonderful  faculty,  if  a  proud  .slut  be  within  miles  of  them. 
Thus  we  see  that  all  animals  are,  like  ourselves,  gov- 
erned by  their  nature,  and,  if  we  wish  to  be  wise  and 
safe,  we  must  study  that  nature — God's  fixed  and  fatal 
law  of  oi'ganism.     In  short  (for  this  question  is  not  worth 
a  sheet  of  paper,  beyond  the  detail  of  curious  facts,  show- 
ing that  brutes  have  quick  and  sagacious  intellects),  brutes 
have  their  instincts  and  their  nature,  and  men  have  their 
instincts  and  their  nature ;  brutes  can  be  instructed  and 
so  can  men  be  instructed,  and  the  only  difference  is  in 
degree — men  being  susceptible  of  the  larger  amount  of 
improvement.     Crows  are  as  quickly  instructed   in  the 
danger  of  a  gun  as  the  human  ;  and  such  is  their  acute- 
ness  of  observation  that,  without  a  gun,  you  may  ap- 
proach within  a  few  rods  of  them,  while  with  a  gun,  you 
can  not  get  witliin  gun-shot  of  them.     I  once  saw  a  drove 
of  turkeys  (in  the  Eocky  Mountains)  so  fearless  of  men 
that  wo  could  have  killed  them  with  sticks,  but,  after 
shooting  a  few  of  them,  they  observed  the  danger,  and 
took   to   their   wings.     Capt.    Cook   mentions  a   similar 
fact.      In   his  voyage  round  the  world,  when  on  unin- 
habited ishinds,  the  foxes  ran  about  their  feet,  and  birds 
alighted  upon   tlieir  lieads  and  shoulders.     It  is  said  of 
Alexander  Selkirk,  on  the  island  of  San  Juan  Fernandez  : 

**  Tho  bcsBtR  tliat  luam  over  tlic  plain, 
My  form  with  indifTeruiicc  sco  ; 
Thi'jr  are  ko  unaccjuaiiitud  witli  maa, 
Thuir  tameiiuHH  ia  Hliocking  tu  iiu<." 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  beasts  gain  knowledge  by  observa- 
tion and  experience  as  do  men. 

The  reader  of  natural   history  may  recollect  the  acts 

19 


214  tHe  true  philosophy  of  mind. 

of  an  elephant,  who,  when  being  led  down  the  streets 
of  Alexandria  to  water,  put  his  snout  throiigh  a  window 
to  reach  an  apple  on  a  bench,  and,  having  been  pricked 
by  a  tailor's   needle,  the  beast  went  on  with   vengeful 
feelings,  and,  filling  his  trunk  with  muddy  water,  spurted 
it  all  over  the  tailor  when  he  returned,  spoiling  a  royal 
dress  which  was  being  made  up  for  the  ruling  prince. 
Educated  elephants  are  instructed  to  go  out  and  bring 
in  wild  ones  over  a  pit-fall  prepared  for  the  purpose  of 
entrapping  them,  and,  if  this  educated  creature  be  caught 
out  after  such  perfidy,  those  who  may  have  escaped  beat 
him  to  death.     Dogs  are  trained  in  France  to  smuggle 
goods  across  the  line,  and,  seeing  as  well  at  night  as  in 
the  day,  a  dog  will   pass   the   guards  with  a  thousand 
dollars'  worth  of  lace  upon  his  back.     It  is  well  known 
by  all  sportsmen  that  when  there  is  a  gap  in  a  close 
hedge    or    fence,  through   which   rabbits    might   escape, 
part  of  the  dogs  will  make  chase,  while  others  run  to 
the  gap.     Deer,  when  wounded  and  hard  pushed,  always 
make  for  a  water-course,  and,  having  sagacity  to  know 
that  if  they  go  up  stream  the  scent  will  float  down  to  the 
dogs,  they  invariably  swim  down  ;    but   their  enemies, 
with  equal  sagacity,  divide  into  two  packs,   one  swim- 
ming across  the  stream,  then  both  packs  run  down  on 
either  side,  soon  find  whether  the  track  has  come  out, 
and,   if   they  find   no   trail,  they   hunt   back  along  the 
stream,  amongst  the  rocks  and  drift — for  well  they  know 
that  deer  will  hide  and  even  sink  themselves  all  to  the 
nose,  which  they  will  protrude  through  the  drift  just  suf- 
ficient to  breathe ;  all  of  which  I  have  again  and  again 
witnessed.     An  old  deer  will  try  to  elude  the  hounds  by 
returning  occasionally  upon  its  own  track  and  then  bound- 
ing off  with  a  great  spring  at  right-angles,  thus  perplexing 
its  pursuers  till  it  gets  ahead ;  but  the  pack  soon  learns  to 
put  the  best  trained  dog  upon  the  direct  track,  while  the 


INSTINCT.  215 

others  divide  and  run  on  either  side,  find  thus  unerringly 
find  the  side  track.  It  is  known  by  all  huntsmen  that 
no  attention  is  paid  by  the  pack  to  the  cry  of  the  young 
ones ;  but  let  an  old  one  open,  and  they  all  rally  at  once 
to  the  spot.  Young  fawns  are  so  much  like  young  chil- 
dren that  I  can  tell,  miles  off,  when  the  pack  is  after  them 
or  an  old  deer;  for,  knowing  nothing  beyond  their  place 
of  birth,  the  dear  little  creatures  will  run  round  and 
round  about  their  home,  while  an  old  buck,  for  instance, 
will  strike  square  out,  and  seek  the  most  distant  and 
diflicult  passes.  I  once  saw  a  fox  come  to  a  fallen  tree, 
and,  leaping  upon  the  roots,  run  the  whole  length  to 
elude  the  chase;  but  no  sooner  did  the  dogs  miss  the 
ground  track  than  they  divided,  running  on  either  side, 
and  meeting  at  the  top,  pursued  on. 

There  is  a  small  wolf  in  Mexico  that  has  the  cunning 

and  caution  of  a  human;  and,  when  cautioned  by  my 

guide  to  keep  my  meat  better  secured,  as  these  wolves 

would  steal  it  even  from  under  my  head,  I  made  the  trial, 

and,  it  being  moonlight  and  they  howling  around,  I  kept 

awake  and  watched  the  movements  of  one,  who  came 

nearer  and    nearer,   often    standing  upon    his   hind  feet 

above  the  high  grass  and  looking  around  him.     When 

very  close,  I  raised  my  arm;  whereupon  he  laid  himself 

flat  upon  the  ground,  and  kept  motionless  till  he  thought 

me  fast  asleep.     Silently  then  he  crawled  up  and  snatched 

the  meat  with  a  juggler's  skill.     This  incident,  though  it 

occurred  many  years  ago,  has  oft  returned  to  mind  and 

caused  me  to  moralize  upon  the  actions  of  both  brute  and 

human.     Audubon  was  never  a  closer  observer  of  birds 

tlian  I  have  been  of  all  animals;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that 

I  have  learned  the  language  of  many  of  them.     I  can  toll 

by  the  voice  of  birds  when  tlujy  see  a  serpent  as  well  as 

if  I  were  to  see  it  myself.     They,  with  distressing  notes, 

call  all  the  birds  within  hearing,  and  flying  round  and 


21G  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

roimd  in  a  cii'clo,  get  nearer  and  nearer  the  snake,  while 
he  remains  i:)erfeetly  still,  with  mouth  wide  open  and 
glaring  eyes,  so  terrifiying  to  the  little  birds  that  they 
become  paralyzed,  flutter,  and  fall  into  his  coil.  This  I 
have  often  seen,  and  am  satisfied  that  what  is  called  a 
charm  is  simply  a  paralyzing  terror. 

I  can  recollect,  when  a  child,  of  being  belated  in 
getting  home,  and  seeing  an  old,  black  stump,  which  in 
the  glimmering  darkness  grew  into  most  frightful  forms, 
when  from  it  I  had  no  power  to  run,  but  walked  tremb- 
lingly up  and  put  by  hand  upon  it.  Sublime  and  awful 
scenes  of  sight  jiroduce  the  same  feeling  upon  the  human, 
so  much  so,  that  persons  have  thrown  themselves  over 
destructive  heights.  Byron  relates,  that  when  in  the 
Alps,  and  leaning  with  his  breast  over  an  awful  height, 
it  was  with  difficulty  he  could  withdraw  himself  from 
destruction  ;  and  the  same  thing  occurred  with  the 
celebrated  Chateaubriand  at  the  Falls  of  Niagara. 
Horses  will,  with  open  doors,  stand  in  a  burning  stable 
and  be  consumed ;  while  the  human  will  do  the  same  on 
burning  boats,  as  well  as  in  houses.  I  have  seen  persons 
at  a  fire  so  paralyzed  and  panic-struck  as  to  be  unfitted 
for  thought  or  action. 

From  long  observation,  I  am  well  assured  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  a  destructive  charm;  but  all  is  terror, 
horror,  and  affright,  destroying  all  power  of  resistance. 

In  recurring  to  the  nature  of  the  mind  in  the  brute,  it 
is  well  known,  from  common  observation,  as  well  as  fi-om 
natural  histoiy,  that  the  female  brute  has  more  kind  and 
heavenly  affection  for  her  young  than  the  human ;  and 
the  gander,  for  instance,  when  mated  (married)  will  set 
time  about  with  his  goose  during  incubation,  and  is  never 
known  to  notice  any  goose  but  his  own ;  while  man  will 
cheat  his  own  wife,  yes,  and  cheat  the  world,  if  he  can. 
If  any  man  could  see  as  well  at  night  as  in  the  day,  and 


INSTINCT.  217 

had  the  exquisite  sensibility  that  the  dog  has,  and  could 
trace  the  thief  to  his  covert  place,  he  would  be  looked 
upon  as  a  God-gifted  man  ;  and  yet  we  degrade  this  gift 
of  Grod  as  brutal.  Nor  is  this  all.  The  dove  may  be 
taken  from  its  nest  in  England,  shut  uj)  on  board  a  vessel, 
and  taken  five  thousand  miles  fi'om  home  (as  they  have 
been),  into  the  far  northern  seas,  and  let  go,  with  the  date 
and  place  of  the  vessel  around  their  neck,  and  they  will 
cross  the  whole  continent  of  America,  then  three  thou- 
sand miles  over  the  ocean,  to  their  home  in  England. 
And  now,  though  man  claims  to  have  a  divinity  within 
him,  he  has  nothing  to  compare  with  this,  which  tran- 
scends all  the  powers  of  science.  Think  you,  then,  the 
mind  of  the  brute  is  matter,  or  that  they  have  no  mind  ? 

Helvetius  felt  quite  certain  that  we  only  owe  our  supe- 
riority over  the  orang-outang  to  the  length  of  life  conceded 
to  us,  while  the  gifted  Darwin  felt  equally  sure  that  if 
the  brutes  had  hands,  instead  of  hoofs,  they  would  be 
our  equals.  All  idle  surmises,  and  false  to  the  truth. 
This  we  know,  and  it  is  all  we  know :  The  bx'ute  can  feel, 
think,  and  act,  in  common  with  man  ;  and,  consequently, 
if  these  qualities  distinguish  mind  from  matter,  brutes 
have  minds  in  common  with  man.  Yes,  and  if  conscience 
be  divine,  as  i.s  taught,  they  have  a  divinity  within  them ; 
for  they,  like  children,  are  quickly  taught  a  conscious- 
ness of  guilt.  Children,  if  physically  able,  will  take 
each  others  toys,  but  by-and-by  they  are  taught  the 
private  right  of  property.  And  just  so  with  the  brutes; 
they  may  not  be  conscious  of  a  wrong  in  their  first  dep- 
redation upon  our  corn-fields  or  gardens,  but  are  taught 
a  conscience  and  a  cunning  to  depredate  at  night  when 
all  is  asleep,  and  be  off  before  day,  just  like  roguish  men. 

Memory  is  considered  a  great  farulty  with  faculty 
writers,  and  the  horse  is  known  to  have  this  faculty 
in  a  higher  degree  than  man  ;  for  they  never  forgot  their 


218  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

home ;  and  if  taken  to  a  distance  from  it,  they  will  uner- 
rinirly  return  on  a  direct  line  to  it,  over  mountains  and 
through  woods,  without  compass  or  guide.  And  now, 
though  not  poets,  they  have  a  prolific  imagination ;  for 
oft  have  I  been  jostled,  and  once  left  for  dead,  by  their 
conversion  of  an  old  stump  or  log  into  Gorgons  and 
phantasms  of  the  most  frightful  forms.  They  also  have 
a  will  {faculty)^  and  had  they  language  they  would 
answer  to  the  nature  of  it  more  correctly  than  do 
free-will  and  faculty  writers.  The  horse  will  wilfully 
follow  the  corn  to  his  trough ;  and  when  empty,  and 
green  grass  in  sight,  his  will  will  lead  him  to  it.  And 
now,  if  asked  what  caused  him  to  go  to  the  trough,  he 
would  answer  correctly,  the  corn  was  the  cause ;  and 
now  why  did  he  leave  it  for  the  grass?  simply  because 
the  motive  for  the  green,  rich  grass  was  stronger  that 
that  for  the  emjity  trough  ;  thus  putting  Haven,  and  all 
free-will  writers  to  shame. 

Having  long  been  a  close  observer  of  the  conduct  of 
brutes,  I  could  give  many  startling  facts  to  show  wherein, 
for  sagacity,  they  excel  the  lower  grades  of  our  own 
race.  But  having  already  passed  my  intended  limits,  I 
shall  say  but  little  more  upon  the  subject,  and  that  to 
claim  some  sympathy  for  our  poor,  dumb  creatures,  who 
are  ever  obedient  to  their  Maker,  as  Avell  as  to  ourselves ; 
while  we,  by  our  own  acknowledgements,  have  ever  been 
rebellious  against  our  Maker;  and  yet  most  arrogantly 
and  unblushingly  do  we  claim  all  the  gifts  of  heaven, 
and  a  right  to  treat  all  God's  other  creatures  with 
injustice  and  cruelty. 

The  Eev.  Sidney  Smith,  in  his  Moral  Philosophy,  says : 
"There  are  observable  in  the  brutes  faint  traces  and  rudi- 
ments of  the  human  faculties."  This  position,  he  goes  on 
to  say,  has  been  maintained  by  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  Reid, 
Locke,  Hartley,  Stewart,  and  all  others  of  the  best  writers 


INSTINCT.  219 

upon  this  subject,  and  begins  his  lecture  on  instinct  thus: 
"I  confess  I  treat  on  this  subject  with  some  degree  of 
apprehension  and  reluctance,  because  I  shall  be  very  sorry 
to  do  injustice  to  the  poor  brutes,  who  have  no  professors 
to  avenge  their  cause,  by  lecturing  upon  our  faculties; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  I  know  there  is  a  very  strong 
anthropieal  party,  who  view  all  eulogiums  on  the  brute 
creation  with  a  very  considerable  degree  of  suspicion, 
and  look  upon  every  comjjliment  which  is  paid  to  the 
ape  as  high  treason  to  the  dignity  of  man." 

Tujjper,  in  his  Proverbial  Philosophy,  says:  "What 
hath  the  faithful  dog  less  than  reason,  or  the  brute  man 
more  than  instinct?" 

Again,  Tupper  says: 

'*Thc  dog  may  have  a  spirit  aB  well  as  bis  brutal  master, 
A  spirit  to  live  in  happiness,  for  wliy  sliould  lie  be  robbed  of  his  oxistonce? 
Hath  he  not  a  cousciousness  of  evil,  a  glimmer  of  moral  sense? 
Love  and  hatred,  courage  and  fear,  and  a  visible  shame  and  pride  ? 
There  may  be  a  future  rest  for  the  patient  victims  of  cruelty. 
And  a  seasou  allotted  for  their  bliss,  to  compensate  for  unjust  suffering." 

Once  more: 

"  What,  man  !  are  there  not  enougli  of  hnnser,  and  disease,  and  fatigue; 

And  yet  must  thy  goad  or  thy  thong  add  another  sorrow  to  existence? 

What !  art  thoa  not  content — thy  sin  hath  dragged  down  suffcriug  and  death 

Ou  the  poor  dumb  servants  of  thy  comfort,  and  yet  must  thou  rack  them 
with   thy  spite  !" 
"The  verdict  of  all   things  is  unanimous,  fimling  their  master  cruel. 

The  dog,  thy  humble  friend,  thy  trusting,  honest  friend, 

And  all  things  that  minister  alike  to  thy  life,  and   thy  comfort,  and  thy 
pride, 

TcHtify  with  ouo  sad  volco  that  man  is  a  cruel  master. 

The  dog  can  not  plcail  his  own  right,  nor  Hinder  a  reason  for  pxomption. 

Nor  give  a  soft  answer  unto  wrath   to  turn  aside  the  undeserved  lash. 
"The  galled  ox  can  not  complain,  nor  suiiplirate  a  moment's  respite. 

The  spent  horse  hideth  his  distress  till  he  panti^th  out  his  spirit  at  the  goal. 
"  Alos,  In  the  winter  of  life,  when  worn  by  constant  toll, 

If  ingrutitudi'  forget  his  services,  ho  can  not  bring  them  to  remembrance. 
"  I!<diold,  he  is  faint  with  hunger— the  big  tear  slandeth  in  his  eye. 
"  His  skin  Ih  H<ire  with  stripi'S,  an<l  he  tottiireth  benratli   his  burden. 
"  111^  linil/H  ari'  slIfT  with  ago,  his  Hinews  have  lost  their  vigor, 


220  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

And   paia  is  stamped   upon   his   face,  wlul<!   ho  wrestloth  unequally  with 

his  toil. 
"  Yet,  once  more — mutely  and  meekly  cuilureth  he  the  crushing  blow. 
"  That  struggle  hath   cracked   his  heart-strings,  and    the  generous  brute  is 

dead. 
"  tjiveth  there  no  advocate  for  liim,  no  judge  to  avenge  his  wrongs  ? 
"No  voice  that  shall  bo  heard  In   his  defense,  no  sentence  bo  passed  on  his 

oppressor  ? 
"Yea,  tlie  sad  age  of  the  tortured  pleadeth  piteouslyfor  him, 
"Yea,  all  the  justice  in  heaven  is  roused  in  indignation  at  his  woes. 
"Yea,  all  the  pity  upon  earth  shall  call  down  a  curse  upon  the  cruel. 
"  The  burning  malice  of  the  wicked  is  their  own  exceeding  punishment, 
"The   angel   of    mercy   stoppeth    not    to   comfort,  but    passeth    by    on    tlio 

other  side, 
"  And  hath  no  tear  to  shed  when  a  cruel  man  is  damned." 

From  one  among  the  many  celebrated  poets  who  have 
borne  witness  to  the  dog's  attachment  to  man,  we  quote 
the  following  bitter;  but  beautiful  reflections : 

"  When  some  proud  son  of  man  returns  to  earth, 
Unknown  to  glory,  but  upheld  by  birth. 
The  sculptor's  art  exhausts  the  pomp  of  woe. 
And  storied  urns  record  who  rests  below  : 
When  all  is  done,  upon  the  tomb  is  seen. 
Not  what  he  was — but  what  he  should  have  been. 
But  the  poor  dog,  in  life  the  firmest  friend — 
The  first  to  welcome,  foremost  to  defend — 
Whose  honest  heart  is  all  his  master's  own — 
Who  labors,  fights,  lives,  breathes  for  him  alone; 
Unhonored  falls,  unnoticed  all  his  worth— 
D(Uiied  in  heaven  the  soul  he  held  on  earth. 
While  man,  vain  insect,  hopes  to  be  forgiven. 
And  claims  himself  a  sole  exclusive  heaven. 
0,  man  !  thou  feeble  tenant  of  an  hour, 
Debased  by  slavery  or  corrupt  by  power. 
Who  knows  thee  well  must  quit  thee  with  disgust — 
Degraded  mass  of  animated  dust. 
Thy  love  is  lust — thy  friendship  all  a  cheat — 
Thy  smiles  hypocrisy — thy  words  deceit ; 
By  nature  vile — ennobled  but  by  name. 
Each  kindred  brute  might  bid  thee  blush  for  sliamo. 
Ye  who  i)erchance  behold  this  simple  urn, 
Pass  on — it  honors  none  you  wish  to  mourn — 
To  mark  a  friend's  remains  these  stones  arise — 
I  never  knew  but  one,  and  here  he  lies!" 

[Byuon's  Epitaph  on  his  Newfsundland  Dog. 


PATE.  221 


WHAT  IS  FATE? 


This  is  a  question  that  has  exhausted  human  thought 
and  ingenuity  for  ages  past,  and  all  is  left  in  darkness 
and  in  doubt.  Men,  like  Milton's  fallen  angels  (as  before 
related),  have  ''reasoned  high  of  providence,  foreknowl- 
edge, will,  and  fate  ;  fixed  fate,  free-will,  foreknowledge 
absolute,  and  found  no  end,  in  wandering  mazes  lost." 
And  why?  Simply  because  they  have  attempted  to  rec- 
oncile free-will  and  fate — a  thing  impossible.  Foreknowl- 
edge, decree,  election,  and  fate,  all  mean  the  same  thing, 
and  are  terms  used  to  express  the  will  of  Deity.  No  one 
who  professes  to  be  of  the  elect,  can  deny  the  veracity  of 
the  doctrine  of  fate,  for  if,  as  he  thinks,  G-od  has  foreor- 
dained him  to  a  particular  end ;  he,  the  creature,  under 
the  decree  of  his  Creator,  can  not  evade  that  end.  To  assert 
freedom,  then,  in  one  who  is_  elected  (fated,)  is  too  absurd 
for  anything  but  derision,  as  the  incompatibility  is  too 
gross  and  glaring  for  reconciliation.  We  should  not 
evade  God's  truth  and  craven  to  vulgar  prejudice  as  did 
Galileo  in  astronomy,  and  Edwards,  Hamilton,  Haven, 
and  others,  in  mental  science;  but  stand  firm  in  his 
immutable  and  eternal  laws.  If  God  foresees  what  a 
thing  will  do,  and  makes  that  thing,  he  most  assuredly 
made  that  thing  to  do  what  it  is  does  do,  or  otherwise  ho 
makes  things  in  vain.  To  say  that  his  works  operate 
differently  from  what  he  made  them  to  do,  is  to  declare 
him  a  short-High  ted  botch,  and  without  power  to  remedy 
his  own  defeids.  Foreknowhidge,  then,  and  decree  can 
not  escajx'  rM-ccHsitation,  and  <'V('ry  t-IVort  lo  Ko]>arate  (lunn 
will    only    involvi'    \\h    in    abmirdilv,  for   (Jod    rjin    iml    he 

20 


222  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

robbed  of  his  supreme  government  over  his  own  works, 
and  in  carrying  out  every  wish  he  may  have.  God,  him- 
self, is  under  a  law  of  necessity  (as  before  shown,)  and 
his  wisdom  and  power  certainly  forbid  the  idea  of  his 
allowing  anything  to  exist  contrary  to  his  wish.  Our 
births  and  deaths  are  fated,  and  every  step  we  take 
between  birth  and  death  is  fated.  And  now,  where  I 
have  spoken  of  the  influence  of  education  and  training 
over  the  conduct  of  men,  I  have  meant  (whether  there 
explained  or  not,)  that  the  very  law  of  education  itself  is 
a  fated  law.  For  instance,  it  is  fatally  certain  that  we 
can  not  even  leai'n  our  mother  tongue  or  the  alphabet 
without  instruction  ;  and  when  learned,  it  is  fatally  cer- 
tain that  we  can  not  help  but  know  them. 


WHAT   IS   REASON? 


TJpHAM,  in  his  "  Philosophy  of  Mind  "  (page  190),  under 
the  head  of  Eeason,  says:  "  That  without  original  sug- 
gestion we  could  not  have  any  knowledge  of  our  own 
existence,  and  without  consciousness  we  should  have  no 
idea  of  our  mental  operations,  and  without  judgment," 
which  he  says  is  also  a  distinct  source  of  knowledge, 
"  there  would  be  no  reasoning ;  and  unassisted  by  rea- 
soning we  could  have  no  knowledge  of  relations." 
"  Reasoning,  therefore,"  he  says,  "is  to  be  regarded 
as  a  new  and  distinct  fountain  of  thought,  which, 
as  compared  with  other  sources  of  knowledge,  just 
mentioned,  opens  itself  still  farther  into  the  recesses  of 
internal  intellect  ;"  as  though  we  had  two  intellects — 
one  external  and  the  other  internal.     "Eeason,"  he  says, 


REASON.  223 

"is  a  distinct  source  of  knowledge,  that  enables  the 
internal  mind  with  a  new  and  valuable  form  of  ideas, 
and  that  it  brings  to  light  hidden  truths,  that  no  other 
faculty  could  do." 

I  have  quoted  Upham  as  a  popular  work,  and  one  that 
pretty  fairly  embodies  that  chaotic  mass  of  nonsense  to 
be  found  in  the  text  books  that  our  schools  generally 
teach.  All,  in  common  with  Upham,  assign  to  the  mind 
a  number  of  faculties  and  powers,  which  they  say  can 
create,  call  up,  handle,  and  turn  about,  or  set  aside,  ideas 
at  pleasure.  It  is  true,  but  hard,  yes  truly  hard,  that  our 
youths,  intended  for  future  usefulness,  should  be  com- 
pelled to  memorize  and  answer,  as  the  learned  pig,  to 
all  this  abominable  and  wholly  unmeaning  jargon  of 
external  and  internal  minds,  and  of  intellectual  faculties 
and  powers,  that  have  no  archetypes  in  nature. 

The  pupil  is  perplexed  and  confounded  by  these  exter- 
nal and  internal  intellects,  and  mental  states  of  mind  (as 
though  they  were  not  the  same),  external  and  internal 
knowledge,  original,  secondary,  and  subordinate  facul- 
ties, active  and  complex  powers,  with  the  classifications, 
divisions,  and  sub-divisions,  and  abstractions,  making, 
as  the  reader  can  see,  by  looking  into  those  books, 
an  ordinary  volume  of  index,  taking  up,  most  unfor- 
tunately, as  much  space  as  the  entire  science  of  the 
human  mind  should  occup3^  These  fountains  of  knowl- 
edge, and  their  almost  innumerable  departments,  powers, 
and  faculties  within  our  little  heads,  are  greatly  more 
extensive  than  the  "Mammoth  Cave."  Indeed,  these 
fancied  divisions  of  minds  have  been  carried  to  such  a 
ridiculous  extent,  that  a  great  preacher  and  divine 
teaciier,  Dr.  Alexander,  Professor  of  Theology  at  Prince- 
ton, has  ullirim-d,  in  his  l)0<)k  of  Moral  Science,  that 
"the  corruj)t  ])rinciples  of  a  man  iId  not  vitiate  the 
CHsence  of  the  soul,"  which  must  mean  that  each  of  those 


224  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

independent  faculties  or  powers  acts  for  itself,  and 
contrary  to  the  desire  of  the  soul  ;  and  again,  "that  the 
mind  is  not  responsible  for  the  acts  of  the  will,  which  is 
an  independent  faculty."  This  doctrine  of  the  great 
professor,  though  glaringly  false  and  mischievous,  is  but 
the  legitimate  consequence  of  the  numerous  divisions  of 
an  indivisible  thing,  and  the  many  independent  faculties, 
not  to  be  found  in  the  mind,  but  taught  in  all  the  works 
on  moral  and  metaphysical  philosophy.  When  such 
mendacious  doctrines,  then,  can  be  maintained  by  such 
minds,  and  enforced  by  their  divine  mission  and  official 
authority,  what  can  we  expect  better  from  the  tyro  in 
science,  or  a  community  indoctrinated  in  such  institutions. 

As  I  have  before  affirmed,  the  mind  is  a  unit,  indivisible 
and  unextended,  occupying  some  portion  of  the  solid 
brain,  needing  no  great  cavities  or  numerous  spaces  for 
the  location  of  those  many  powers  and  faculties.  The 
doctrine  then  taught  of  its  many  parts  and  distinct 
divisions,  is  at  variance  with  facts  and  ridiculous  in 
its  tendencies.  Those  who  believe  in  the  spirituality 
and  identity  of  the  soul,  can  not  consistently  teach  its 
material  divisibility  and  inidentity.  It  is  granted  by  all 
sound  thinkers  that  no  two  objects  or  actions  can  occupy 
the  same  space  at  the  same  time ;  and  how  is  it  possible 
then  for  the  mind,  occupying  but  one  space,  to  occupy 
or  entertain  within  the  same  space  all  the  faculties, 
powers,  and  distinct  agencies  so  ludicrously  allotted  to 
it  by  metaphysical  writers. 

Eeason,  or  reasoning,  is  simply  one  of  our  mental  modes 
of  exercise,  and  nothing  separate  from  the  mind  or  its 
other  modes  of  action,  except  so  far  as  the  objects  pre- 
sented to  the  mind  turns  the  mind  to  their  own  nature. 
For  instance,  if  a  black  and  a  white  object  be  presented 
to  the  mind,  the  mind  at  once  sees  and  knows  one  to  be 
black  and  the  other  to  be  white,  and  no  comparison  or 


REASON.  225 

exercise  of  mind  is  necessary.  Again,  the  affirmation 
that  the  whole  is  greater  than  any  of  its  parts,  carries  a 
conviction  to  the  mind  without  puzzle  or  exertion.  But 
suppose  I  announce  that  you  must  die,  you  may  answer, 
I  never  have  died,  and  why  then  say  I  shall  die?  A 
reason  is  now  demanded,  and  a  succession  of  facts  to 
prove  the  future  by  the  past  becomes  necessary  to  a 
judgment ;  all  of  which  is  simply  an  addition  of  facts 
to  facts,  and  no  separate  faculty  from  the  indivisible 
mind.  And  again,  if  the  mind  looks  at  the  midday  sun, 
no  reasoning  can  make  it  more  convincing  than  the 
unavoidable  perception  that  the  sun  is  shining  ;  but  when 
said  it  will  cease  to  shine  by  night,  an  additional  thought 
becomes  involved.  "We  want  a  metaphysical  nomencla- 
ture, as  well  as  a  chemical,  which  would  greatly  abate 
the  nuisance  of  endless  quibbling  about  words.  If  we 
were  to  substitute  experience  for  reason,  the  word  would 
explain  itself,  as  it  is  impossible  to  reason  without  past 
experience  or  instruction.  A  child  can  not  reason,  and 
would  as  soon  take  hold  of  a  coal  of  fire  as  a  rose ;  but  if 
asked,  after  once  taking  hold,  why  not  do  it  again,  it 
could  quickly  give  a  reason ;  and  now  this,  as  short  and 
simple  as  it  is,  is  the  law  of  mind  in  every  case  in  life. 
We  little  think  how  we  gain  our  knowledge,  and  the 
books  upon  this  subject  generally  complicate  and  render 
everything  doubtful. 

In  short,  anything  that  supports  or  justifies  a  deter- 
mination is  a  reason  for  that  determination.  The 
testimony  of  any  case  gives  a  reason  to  judges  and 
juries  for  their  decisions.  The  original  meaning  is 
simply  an  utterance  or  talk  about  something,  it  matters 
not  wliat,  tliat  gives  the  ground  or  cause  for  an  opinion, 
and  conscrjiu'ut  decision.  It  being  a  waste  of  time  to 
jjrate  about  the  etymology  of  the  word  reason,  I  hero 
give  the   reader  what  the  great  metapliysician,  Locke, 


226  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OF   MIND. 

says  in  favor  of  its  practical  use,  which  everybody  under- 
stands: "No  mission  can  be  looked  on  to  be  divine,  that 
delivers  anything  derogatory  from  the  honor  of  the  one 
only  true  and  visible  G-od,  or  inconsistent  with  natural 
religion  and  the  rules  of  morality ;  because  Grod  having 
discovered  to  man  the  unity  and  majesty  of  his  eternal 
Godhead,  and  the  truths  of  natural  religion  and  morality 
by  the  light  of  reason,  he  can  not  be  supposed  to  back  the 
contrary  by  revelation,  for  that  would  be  to  destroy  the 
evidence  and  use  of  reason,  without  which  men  can  not 
be  able  to  distinguish  divine  revelation  from  diabolical 
imposture." 

I  next  quote  what  the  Rev.  Sidney  Smith  says  in 
regard  to  the  use  of  reason,  under  the  head  of  Reason 
and  Judgment,  in  his  book  on  Moral  Philosophy :  "  We 
connect  together  two  ideas  in  early  life,  which  we  find  it 
impossible  to  separate  in  advanced  age ;  we  reason  from 
them  as  from  intuitive  truths,  and  upon  such  topics 
are  utterly  impregnable  to  every  attempt  at  conviction. 
These  are  the  principal  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  the 
reasoning  faculty ;  and  they  are  disorders  of  the  mind 
so  common  and  so  detrimental,  that  I  shall  speak  of  them 
more  at  large  in  my  next  and  concluding  lecture.  When 
they  happen  not  to  exist,  or  when  they  have  been  guarded 
against  by  a  good  understanding  or  a  superior  education, 
the  conclusions  we  draw  upon  most  subjects  are  sound 
and  just;  for  if  a  subject  be  discussed  coolly,  if  the 
parties  have  no  other  interest  in  its  termination  but 
that  of  truth,  if  they  thoroughly  understand  the  terms 
they  employ,  if  they  are  well  informed  upon  the  related 
facts,  and  if  they  are,  both,  in  the  habit  of  guarding 
against  accidental  associations,  the  conclusions  in  which 
they  terminate  will  probably  be  the  same.  There  is 
hardly  any  difference  of  opinion  not  resolvable  into  one 
or  the  other  of  these  causes.     Here,  then,  we  have  an 


REASON.  ,  227 

outline  of  that  manly  and  high-prized  reason,  which, 
under  the  blessing  and  direction  of  God,  arranges  the 
affairs  of  this  world;  which  cools  passion,  unravels 
sophisms,  enlightens  ignorance,  and  detects  mistake ; 
which  wit  can  not  disconcert,  nor  eloquence  bear  down ; 
which  appeals  always  to  realities,  and  ever  follows  truth 
without  insolence  and  without  fear.  For  it  is  disgraceful 
to  the  immortal  understanding  of  man  to  be  governed  by 
sounds  and  to  be  the  slave  of  that  speech  which  was 
given  to  him  for  service.  It  is  beneath  the  loftiness  of 
his  faculties  to  take  his  notions  of  truth  from  the  little 
hamlet  in  which  he  was  bred,  or  from  the  fashions  of 
thought  which  prevail  in  his  hour  of  life;  for  truth 
dwells  not  on  the  Danube,  or  the  Seine,  or  the  Thames ; 
she  is  not  this  thing  to-day,  and  to-morrow  another ;  but 
she  is  of  all  places  and  all  times  the  same,  in  every 
change  and  in  every  chance — as  firm  as  the  pillars  of 
the  earth,  and  as  beautiful  as  its  fabric.  Add  to  the 
power  of  discovering  truth  the  desire  of  using  it  for  the 
promotion  of  human  happiness,  and  you  have  the  great 
end  and  object  of  our  existence.  This  is  the  immaculate 
model  of  excellence  that  every  human  being  should  fix 
in  the  chambers  of  his  heart;  which  he  should  place 
before  his  mind's  eye  from  the  rising  to  the  setting  of 
the  sun,  to  strengthen  his  understanding  that  he  may 
direct  his  benevolence,  and  to  exhibit  to  the  world  the 
most  beautiful  spectacle  the  world  can  behold,  of  comsum- 
mate  virtue  guided  by  consummate  talents.  '  For  some 
men,'  says  Lord  Bacon,  '  think  that  the  gratification  of 
curiosity  is  the  end  of  knowledge  ;  some,  the  love  of 
fame ;  some,  the  pleasure  of  dispute ;  some,  the  necessity 
f)f  HUpportiiig  themKclvcH  by  their  knowledge  ;  but  the 
real  use  of  all  knowledge  is  this,  that  we  should  dedicate 
that  reason  which  was  given  uh  by  God  U)  the  use  and 
a«lvanlagc  of  man.'  "     Divine  truth,  and  eloquently  said. 


228  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

The  first  lesson  given  a  child  should  be  to  discriminate 
between  things  natural  and  necessary  in  nature,  and  the 
fortuitous  dogmas  of  man.  They  should  study  well  the 
laws  of  nature  which  controls  the  succession  of  events, 
both  in  the  physical  and  moral  worlds,  that  we  may 
anticipate  the  future  from  the  past,  and  thus  be  able 
to  meet  the  emei-gencies  of  life.  Medical  doctors  are 
like  divine  doctors — ever  prone  to  magnify  inessentials 
in  medicine  from  mere .  casual  results,  that  the  after 
experience  of  impartial  observers  explode.  Strange,  that 
this  kind  of  association  should  have  so  far  blinded  the 
great  M.  Boyle,  who  has  given  the  following  grave 
prescription  for  dysentery.  I  copy  it  verbatim  from  his 
woi'ks  :  "  Take  the  thigh-bone  of  an  hanged  man,  calcine 
it  to  a  whiteness,  and  having  prepared  the  patient  with 
an  antimonial  medicine,  give  him  one  dram  of  this  white 
powder  for  one  dose,  in  some  good  cordial,  whether  con- 
serve or  liquor."  Some  one  doubtless  took  this  prescrip- 
tion and  got  well;  and  from  this  accidental  recovery 
of  the  patient  was  inferred  a  necessary  and  efficient 
.  connection.  This  case  reminds  me  of  what  is  recorded 
of  a  doctor  with  slender  science,  who  commenced  the 
practice  of  medicine  with  a  single  nostrum.  His  first 
patient  was  a  Dutchman,  who  got  well,  and  his  second 
patient  a  Frenchman,  who  died ;  from  which  casual 
results  he  recorded,  in  his  book  of  experience,  the  follow- 
ing facts :  "  Be  careful  to  recollect  that  what  will  cure 
a  Dutchman  will  kill  a  Frenchman."  The  dying  of.  the 
privet,  the  flight  of  crows,  signs  in  the  heaven,  and  many 
other  coincidences  with  war,  have  been  taken  as  causes  of 
war  simjDly  because  of  their  association.  In  this  casual 
connection,  augury,  astrology,  and  all  the  forms  of  prog- 
nostication and  superstition  have  had  their  rise.  Advan- 
tage has  been  taken  by  the  designing  of  this  trait  in 
the  human  character,  and  they  have,  by  grafting  these 


REASON.  229 

superstitious  ideas  upon  weak  minds,  reaped  a  bountiful 
liarvest,  and  given  to  the  capricious  masses  a  fanatical 
devotion  to  the  most  absurd  and  corrupt  institutions  in 
religion.  And  right  here  is  the  danger  from  our  versatile 
and  erratic  nature  of  total  scepticism;  for,  seeing  the 
deception  and  depravity  of  religious  supremacy,  minds 
equally  weak  are  prone  to  revolt  from  all  authority, 
human  and  divine.  If  we  were  instructed  from  early 
life  in  the  immutable  and  eternal  laws  of  nature,  upon 
which  alone  human  harmony  and  happiness  depend, 
instead  of  riddles,  enigmas,  and  inexplicable  mysteries 
of  controversial  theology,  we  would  not  be  found  at  this 
late  period  of  the  world  degraded  by  a  vasalage  in  super- 
stition and  human  authority. 

Just  as  rational  are  the  devotees  of  the  legend  of 
the  Talmud  and  Alkoran — yes,  and  to  the  more  recent 
tricks  of  Brigham  Young,  as  our  deluded  devotees  to 
the  distracted  dogmas  of  our  day.  Such  craven  credulity 
is  beneath  the  dignity  of  an  immortal  soul,  and  nothing 
can  redeem  us  from  the  venal  and  debasing  grasp  of 
human  authority,  but  the  sublime  truths  taught  in  the 
book  of  nature,  which  elevates  the  soul  and  kindly 
unites  the  heart  of  man  to  man  and  to  the  Author  of  his 
being.  Let  us  then  return  to  her  simple  and  easy  lessons 
in  the  laws  of  mind  ;  guided  by  the  reason  our  Maker 
has  so  kindly  given  to  seek  him. 

Our  metaphysical  books,  as  I  often  repeat,  arc  full  of 
technicalities  that  in  reality  have  no  meaning,  and,  con- 
sequently, only  encumber  the  subject  and  distract  the 
pupil,  who  is  always  looking  for  their  application,  and 
not  finding  it  despairs  of  understanding  the  Kubject  which, 
without  such  language,  would  be  perfectly  simple  and 
easy.  But  thus  it  is  that  those  petty  pedagogues,  by  the 
dexterous  use  of  senseless  sounds,  and  harmonious  noth- 
ings, get  tlie  name  of  wise-acres,  and  fatten  upon   the 


230  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

credulity  of  their  demented  and  enslaved  fellow-mortals. 
Yet  these  books  being  established  in  our  schools  from 
long  authority,  have  unfortunately  mislead  the  pupil 
by  inducing  him  to  believe  that  such  divisions  in  terms, 
as  powers,  faculties,  etc.,  must  mean  and  represent  some 
real  difference  and  division  of  the  mind  itself.  There 
is  proof  ample  of  all  that  can  be  asked  for  mind  without 
resorting  to  such  impotent  and  unmanly  subterfuge. 

A  man's  belief  is  nothing  aside  from  his  thoughts,  for, 
as  before  stated,  we  believe,  we  think,  we  imagine,  we 
presume,  feel,  and  are  conscious,  and  know,  that  it  is  mid- 
day and  not  midnight.  These  are  mere  solecisms  or  rep- 
etitions of  sounds,  to  express  a  simple  feeling  of  soul. 
The  light,  flashing  upon  the  mind,  at  once  makes  its  un- 
avoidable impression,  as  the  seal  upon  the  wax,  the  pic- 
ture upon  the  daguerreotype  plate,  the  writing  upon 
paper,  or  the  object  thrown  by  light  upon  the  face  of  the 
mirror.  There  is  a  oneness  of  mind,  and  a  oneness  of 
action,  and  the  multiplicity  of  words  are  but  contraven- 
tions of  the  fact.  Reasoning  is  said  to  be  very  compli- 
cated and  complex,  the  drawing  conclusions  from  the 
comparison  of  two  or  more  ideas,  as  though  many  ideas 
or  actions  of  the  mind  could  exist  in  the  same  space  at 
the  same  time;  when  the  ^^sensorium  commune"  can  act 
but  one  act  at  a  time,  how  can  we,  with  the  existing  state 
of  mind,  compare  two  other  states  of  mind  that  do  not 
exist?  This  would  be  the  same  as  a  thing  acting  when  it 
is  not  and  where  it  is  not.  Compainng  must  be  an  act  of 
that  which  thinks  or  compares,  so  that  to  compare  two  or 
more  ideas  would  be  to  admit  that  an  action  of  compar- 
ing, and  two  or  more  ideas  compared  must  occupy  the 
same  space  at  the  same  time,  a  thing  known  by  philo- 
sophic writers  to  be  impossible,  having  lain  it  down  as  an 
axiom  that  no  two  things  can  occupy  the  same  space  at 
one  time.  It  is  impossible  that  the  same  mind  can  be  in  two 


REASON.  231 

or  more  different  states  at  the  same  time.  Comparing  is 
thinking;  so  if  we  compare  two  other  thoughts,  three 
thoughts  must  exist  in  the  same  mind  at  the  same  time. 
There  is  no  such  thing,  therefore,  as  complex  thoughts  so 
elaborately  treated  of  by  authors,  each  thought  being 
perfectly  simple,  but  succeeding  each  other  in  such  rapid 
succession  as  that  they  all  seem  to  be  present  at  the  same 
time.  If  we  whirl  a  fire-brand  rapidly  around  in  the 
dark,  it  bears  the  appearance  of  one  continuous,  unbroken 
and  luminous  ring,  when  in  reality  the  fire-brand  is  not 
in  but  one  place  at  a  time,  one  impression  not  dying  till 
another  is  presented,  thus  forming  a  continuous  unbroken 
chain,  though  each  link  of  that  chain  is  different  in  time, 
in  space,  and  in  nature,  when  moving.  ISTor  is  there  such 
a  thing  as  simultaneity  in  the  chain  of  causality,  but  all  is 
succession.  We  may  imagine  an  endless  chain  so  united 
and  dependent,  that  when  the  first  link  is  moved,  every 
link  is  in  motion,  yet  it  will  readily  be  seen,  that  though 
the  whole  chain  moves  through  space,  no  two  links  occupy 
the  same  space  at  the  same  time.  It  is  common  to  speak 
of  "synchronical,"  actions  in  physiological  phenomena, 
but  there  is  no  such  thing  in  the  same  organ.  There  are 
"peristaltic"  or  "vermicular"  motions  in  rapid  succes- 
sion, and  there  is  the  intimate  connection  or  tie  of  cause 
and  effect,  yet  the  cause  must  precede  the  effect  in  nature, 
as  well  as  in  time  and  space.  It  is  common  also  to  speak 
of  simultaneous  and  synchronous  actions  of  the  mind, 
but  there  is  certainly  no  such  thing.  All  are  successive 
modes  of  action,  in  quick  succession,  like  the  turning  of 
the  kaleidoscope.  Nor  is  there  any  more  mystery  in  this 
than  that  one  body,  as  a  ball  in  motion,  should  put  a  largo 
number  in  successive  motion.  One  idea  will  often  stir  up 
a  whole  concatenation  of  ideas.  How  this  is  done  HtH;ms 
U)  bo  an  ultimate  fact,  for  which  I  have  no  satisfactory 
explanation. 


232  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

This  I  know,  however,  that  these  associations  are  not 
stored  away  in  cells,  nor  shut  up  in  caves  like  the  winds 
by  JEolus,  to  be  let  out  at  pleasure,  as  some  authors  have 
taught,  who  speak  of  large  stores  of  ideas,  and  shelves 
upon  which  select  ideas  can  be  placed  for  ready  purposes, 
as  merchants  store  away  their  goods.  Speak  one  word, 
and  it  often  happens,  that  ruminating  thoughts  crowd 
upon  us  for  hours,  simply  by  suggestion  or  association, 
pretty  much  in  the  order  and  connection  in  which  they 
have  been  received. 

"  Lulled  in  the  countless  chambers  of  the  brain 
Our  thoughts  are  linked  by  many  a  hidden  chain  ; 
Awake  but  one,  and  lo,  what  myriads  rise. 
Each  stamps  its  image  as  the  other  flies." 

It  is  just  as  difficult  to  account  for  how  it  is  that  inter- 
mittent fevers  and  other  diseases  lie  dormant  in  the  sys- 
tem, and  are  stirred  up  by  trifling  causes,  of  which  we 
are  not  conscious,  or  how  small-pox  or  vaccination  should 
remain  unknown  and  unfelt  for  life,  to  the  exclusion  of 
certain  other  diseases.  There  is  another  fact  in  the 
animal  economy  but  little  noticed,  and  which  bears  a 
close  analogy  to  the  phenomena  of  mind,  that  no  systemic 
or  generic  diseases  can  exist  in  the  same  system  at  the 
same  time,  one  counteracting  the  other,  which  will  lie 
dormant  till  the  first  subsides,  and  then  rise  up  and  run 
its  course.  To  the  just  opprobrium  of  medical  science, 
and  to  the  neglect  of  mental  alienation  and  suffering 
humanity,  the  dependent  relation  of  mind  and  body  has 
been  almost  wholly  neglected.  A  close  attention  to  our 
nervous  influences  would  mitigate  many  a  sorrow  and 
prolong  the  period  of  life.  It  is  often  asked,  if  the  mind 
is  not  entirely  separate  ft"om  and  independent  of  the 
body,  how  do  we  remember  for  many  years,  when  the 
body  has  undergone  so  many  changes?  to  which  I  am 
sorry  to  reply,  that  small-pox,  as  I  have  just  said,  vaccin- 


REASON.  233 

ation,  and  many  other  influences  remain  for  life  in  the 
body,  every  particle  of  which,  we  suppose,  has  been  lost 
in  the  constant  renewal  of  the  body. 

I  have  said  there  are  no  such  things  as  complex  ideas, 
every  idea  being  in  itself  plain  and  distinct.  Color  and 
extension,  as  I  before  observed,  have  no  necessary  con- 
nection, and  may  be  separated,  yet  we  invariably  receive 
them  as  one  simple  idea.  Each  part  of  every  letter  in  the 
alphabet,  when  we  first  begin  to  learn,  is  closely  scrutin- 
ized. The  single  letter  A  having  many  parts  which  are 
examined  by  the  young  beginner  to  distinguish  it  from 
B;  but,  by-and-by,  A  with  all  its  parts,  first  separate  and 
distinct,  now  coalesce  and  become  one  simple  idea.  Time 
brings  not  only  entire  letters  but  whole  words  and  sen- 
tences as  equally  simple  as  a  single  side  of  A.  The  word 
man,  for  instance,  is  perfectly  simple  and  expressive,  with- 
out going  back  and,  by  analysis,  making  a  whole  volume 
of  metaphysical  learning  in  giving  every  part  of  every 
letter  in  M-A-N,  and  then  that  he  is  a  biped  with  many 
thousand  peculiarities  and  relations  of  mind  and  body  in 
the  great  scale  of  organisms.  If  we  look  at  a  table  with 
two  legs,  it  is  simple,  and  one  with  four  legs,  though 
more  complicated,  is  equally  so,  as  an  idea  being  neither 
black,  blue,  red,  nor  green,  nor  are  they  solid,  extended, 
rough,  smooth,  angular,  or  circular,  but  a  mere  simple 
feeling. 

The  doctrine  of  an  internal  and  unerring  monitor  supe- 
rior to  reason,  is  the  mere  offspring  of  a  chimerical  and 
frenzied  fanaticism,  and  as  the  ghosts  and  phantoms  of 
midnight  vanish  before  the  rising  sun,  must  these  morbid 
musings  vanish  before  the  light  of  reason.  Those  sup- 
posed intuitional  prc)ni])tingH  are  but  vain  and  liopcdess 
dclusionH,  whicli,  if  iii<liilgc<l  in,  would  plunge  um  into  the 
vortex  of  wild  distraction  and  bitter  contentions,  from 
which  would  again  arise  tiic  old  sitiick  of  liniiid    iiiliii- 


234  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

manity.  Where,  I  ask,  in  the  name  of  sacred  reason,  is  this 
divine  and.  intuitive  monitor  when  one  Christian  drags 
the  other  to  the  stake?  Are  they  not  both  prompted  by 
the  same  unerring  guide  to  the  most  unhallowed  and 
malignant  deeds?  How  wide  from  the  truth,  then,  must 
be  such  doctrines,  when  God  himself  is  a  unit  and  made 
of  love ;  and  were  his  professed  followers  possessed  of  the 
same  spirit  they  would  most  assuredly  be  united  in  the 
bonds  of  divine  unity  and  brotherly  friendship.  This 
doctrine  I  strongly  suspect  as  being  from  Satan,  as  it  is 
this,  and  this  alone,  that  has  produced  all  the  church 
divisions  and  fiendish  feuds  that  we  see  prevailing  every- 
where, and  that  has  destroyed  millions  of  the  best  men  on 
earth.  Satan,  on  this  account,  has  ever  been  opposed  to 
reason,  for  well  he  knpws  that  earthly  thrones  have  trem- 
bled, and  that  demon  oppression,  with  all  its  Gorgon  forms, 
has  fled  before  the  voice  of  reason;  nor  can  the  tricks 
of  papal  sorcery  or  the  wiles  of  the  Devil  himself  stand 
against  the  might  and  majesty  of  reason.  Eeason,  in 
short,  is  the  voice  of  God,  and  the  best  boon  of  Heaven 
to  man.  vShall  we,  then,  discard  reason  as  the  mystic 
divines  have  done,  and  rest  the  salvation  of  souls  and  the 
happiness  of  man  upon  a  mere  creature  of  education? 
This  adored  conscience  is  as  beguiling  to  the  indolent 
mind  as  the  ignis  fatuus  or  the  glaring  meteor  that  thwarts 
the  vault  of  heaven  and  dies  upon  the  welkin's  bound — 
fair  to  be  looked  at,  but  false  to  follow;  an  evanescent, 
ephemeral  creature,  governed  by  time  and  place,  and 
resting  wholly  upon  the  veering  conventionalities  of  man. 
Thus  we  see  the  danger  of  being  carried  away  by  such 
allurements — those  mere  feelings  and  emotions  of  soul. 
They  are  dangerously  attractive  to  the  superstitious  and 
fanatical,  and  are  the  exclusive  generators  of  witches, 
wizards,  and  all  the  fearful  monsters  that  alarm  children 
and  fools.    We  must  not  forget  that  God  has  endowed  us 


REASON.  235 

with  reason  as  well  as  imagination,  and  that  these  lofty 
emotions,  though  pleasing  to  the  aspiring  soul,  will  not 
bear  us  out  in  the  vicissitudes  and  struggles  of  life.  A 
mystic  lethargy  among  mental  philosophers,  who  found  it 
easy  to  fall  in  the  wake  of  the  superstitious  masses,  and  a 
sordid  pusillanimity  among  the  priesthood,  who  catered 
to  the  same  feeling,  led  both  religion  and  philosophy 
wildly  astray  for  many  ages. 

After  more  than  two  thousand  years  of  bewildered 
struggle  in  mental  science,  a  great  and  leading  light 
appeared  in  the  person  of  Francis  Bacon,  who  dragged 
those  scholastic  mystics  from  the  dark  closets  and  ex- 
posed them  to  the  light  of  day.  He  showed  by  unan- 
swerable arguments  that  reason  was  given  by  God  as  our 
only  guide  to  truth,  and  that  whenever  we  deserted  poor 
human  reason  for  a  supposed  divine  monitor  within,  science 
would  sink  to  insignificance,  and  our  guide  would  prove  a 
delusion  and  a  mockery  of  all  our  hopes.  Under  Bacon's 
rule  of  Rationalism  there  arose  a  Locke,  who  rid  the 
world  of  innate  ideas  and  o^  divine  monitors,  and  subjected 
all  things  to  the  test  of  reason.  And,  secondly,  a  Newton 
came  forward,  who,  by  the  aid  of  reason,  not  only  looked 
through  the  departments  of  this  world,  but  ascended  high 
amidst  the  celestial  spheres,  among  other  worlds  and  sys- 
tems of  worlds.  But  soon,  however,  philosophy  fell  back 
into  the  dark  realms  of  superstition,  and  gave  way  to  the 
mere  feelings  and  delusive  suggestions  of  soul.  Amidst 
this  distracted  state  of  things,  there  appeared  a  Bishop 
Berkeley,  who  was  so  transcendental  in  his  impulses  that 
he  boldlf'  denied  the  existence  of  a  material  and  external 
world.  lie  contended  that  everything  was  ideal,  that  wo 
liad  notiiiiig  in  the  mind  but  ideas,  and  as  these  ideas 
were  not  matter,  we  had  no  proof  of  the  existence  of 
matter;   and    thus  was  established   Berkeley's  system  ol" 

[r»KAI-IHM. 


236  THE   TRUE    THILOSOPIIY    OF    MIND. 

i 

Next  upon  the  stage  came  David  Hume,  who,  with  the  ] 
greatest  mind  of  the  age,  saw  that  the  mystic  and  ideal-  i 
istic  doctrine  involved  a  gross  absurdity,  and  that  it  ! 
struck  at  the  foundations  of  all  human  knowledge.  So  j 
he  at  once  exposed  it  to  ridicule  and  contemj)t,  by  plainly  ] 
showing  to  the  world  that  Berkeley,  by  his  own  principles, 
had  destroyed  both  mind  and  matter,  leaving  us  without  | 
either  soul  or  body.  From  this  scene  of  doubt  and  con  -  j 
fusion  arose  Hume's  system  of  scej)ticism,  and  next  came 
Pantheism  and  a  renewed  mysticism,  and,  lastly  of  all,  we  i 
have  the  school  of  Eclecticism  (at  the  head  of  which  is ' 
Cousin,  of  France),  which  in  reality  is  nothing  more  nor  i 
less  than  a  system  made  up  of  errors,  but  the  least  of 
errors  of  all  the  other  schools. 

I  might  emblazon  my  pages  with  the  most  glowing 
lights  that  ever  shone  upon  earth,  and  yet  could  truth- 
fully say,  that  after  all  those  mighty  minds  have  been  i 
exhausted    in    the    cause    of   human    improvement   and; 
knowledge,  that   the  world   is   left   in  darkness  and   in  I 
doubt.     The  schools  of  the  present  age,  particularly  in 
Germany,  are  psychologized.     They  are  asleep  and  sub-  i 
ject   to  all   the  vagaries   of  their  morbid   imaginations,  i 
They  yield  to  the  fervid  impulses  and  to  the  longings  of 
their  hearts,  and  hence  the  hallowed  charm  that  encircles  i 
the  SQ41I,  and  buoys  it  up  in  its  fond  and  ecstatic  delusions  ■ 
and  its  Elysian  reveries. 

To  convince  the  reader  that  I  have  not  misrepresented 
the  distracted  condition  of  Mental  PhilosoiDhy,  I  will  here  i 
introduce  a  quotation  from  "Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  of; 
Biography :  American  edition ;  by  Eev.  Francis  Hawks,  { 
D.D.,  L.L.D.,  of  New  York."  From  the  notice  of  Hume! 
which  occurs  in  that  work,  I  make  the  following  extract :      I 

"The  place  and  functions  of  the  metaphysical  specula- j 
tions  of  this  great  thinker  (Hume),  are  not  only  peculiar, 
but  unique  in  the  history  of  Modern  Philosojihy.     At  the' 


REASON.  237 

period  in  question,  Mental  Science  had  fallen  into  the 
lowest  possible  state,  not  only  in  Britain,  but  over  Europe 
— that,  viz :  of  a  conscious  inconsistency ;  principles  were 
accepted  and  conclusions  evaded;  beliefs  timidly  relied 
on,  betwixt  which  and  all  grounds  of  certainty  then 
acknowledged,  lay  an  impassible  hiatus.  The  sensational 
philosophy,  always  agreeable  to  the  practical  tendencies 
of  the  English  mind,  had  just  reached  its  culmination 
under  the  guidance  of  the  genius  and  earnestness  of  John 
Locke,  and  we  were  undergoing  its  consequences  in  the 
dwarfing  of  systematic  morals  and  the  gradual  impover- 
ishment of  religion ;  saving  ourselves  as  to  the  mere  form 
of  faith  by  refuge  in  tradition,  or,  what  is  worst  of  all, 
willing  subjection  to  gross  paralogisms.  When  science 
exists  only  through  paltering  with  reason,  when  it  accepts 
as  its  function,  not  the  office  of  discovering  Truth,  but  of 
finding  excuses  for  Belief,  it  is  science  no  longer,  but  a 
corruption  and  hypocrisy ;  and  however  it  may  come,  its 
destruction  is  a  blessing.  Hume  appeared  as  the  destroyer. 
Gifted  with  an  intellect  clear  and  fearless,  he  carried  prin- 
ciples remorselessly  to  their  consequences;  and  proved 
beyond  question,  that  on  the  grounds  of  the  existing  phil- 
osophy all  belief  must  disappear. 

"  If  he  reached  the  Uuniversal  Scepticism,  it  may  be 
said  that  he  yet  had  a  faith  sounder  than  any  in  the 
philosophy  he  had  destroyed  ;  he  trusted  in  the  only 
ground  of  human  certainty,  viz:  in  our  human  reason, 
and  had  the  rare  courage  to  folloAV  where  it  seemed  to 
lend.  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  the  degree  of  consterna- 
tion spread  through  every  region  of  existing  speculation 
by  the  'Essay  on  the  Idea  of  Necessary  Connexion,'  the 
'  Knquiry  concerning  the  Principles  of  Morals,'  the 
'Natural  Ifistory  of  Iteligioii,' and  their  other  conij)an- 
ions.  Iluinc,  had  divested  himself  by  this  time  of  the 
scholastic    rudeness   of  the   author   of  the   '  Treatise   on 

21 


238  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

Human  Nature,'  and  become  one  of  the  most  pleasing 
and  accomplished  writers  of  any  period.  His  blows 
resounded  accordingly  through  all  cultivated  society.  It 
was  heard  everywhere  with  amazement,  that  by  a  logic 
apparently  invincible,  the  basis  of  all  certainty  concern- 
ing man,  nature  and  God,  had  been  destroyed ;  and  that 
doubt  irremediable  was  the  sole  inheritance  of  our  race  j 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  resting  place  of  humanity 
was  saved  ;  but  not  by  invalidating  the  reasoning  of  the 
trenchant  Scotchman.  Hume's  triumph  was  complete, 
only  it  was  the  existing  philosophy  that  he  laid  in  ruins." 

Thus  we  have  seen  the  practical  result  of  this  unerring 
intution  (conscience)  ujion  which  a  grave  philosophy, 
and  one  that  governs  the  world,  is  based. 

Discarding  those  thingless  and  distracting  names  as 
jjowers  and  faculties,  with  their  innumerable  progeny  of 
of  subordinate  and  hidden  agencies,  we  will  turn  our 
thoughts  in  upon  our  sensitive  soul,  thus  cleared  of  its 
rubbish,  and  see  what  is  there  to  be  found.  Let  us  ask 
ourselves,  what  is  a  thought  or  idea  if  not  an  impression 
made  upon  our  feeling  mind?  We  can  not  think  without 
feeling  nor  feel  without  thinking.  They  being  identically 
one  and  the  same  but  in  sound.  Twice  two  make  four, 
and  four  ones  or  three  and  one  will  be  the  same,  thouffh 
very  different  in  sound.  "We  can  not  think  without  reason- 
ing, and  we  certainly  can  not  reason  without  thinking. 
We  can  not  judge  without  reasoning,  nor  reason  without 
judging;  reasoning  being  nothing  more  in  fact  than  a 
connected  train  of  thoughts.  Apply  a  coal  of  fire  to  the 
surface,  and  we  think  we  feel  it,  and  infer  the  cause ;  we 
believe  we  feel  it,  we  judge  we  feel  it,  and  reason  tells  us 
we  feel  it,  we  are  conscious  we  feel  it,  we  imagine  we  feel 
it,  we  suppose  we  feel,  we  presume  we  feel,  we  perceive 
that  we  feel,  we  conceive  that  we  fieel,  and  in  fine  we  know 
that  we  feel.      These,  now,  I  will   say  to  the  pupil,  are 


REASON.  239 

nothincf  but  arbitrary  associations  and  Ij'ing  sounds,  and 
not  even  as  much  as  different  modes  of  sensation  or  think- 
ing, showing  the  fact,  as  I  have  said  in  many  pai'ts  of  this 
Avork,  how  deceptive,  bewildering,  and  vague  the  language 
used  by  metaphysical  writers  is.  Such  books  are  not 
entities  in  nature,  nor  are  the  words  they  contain  the  rej)- 
resentatives  of  real  things.  But  such  is  the  supremacy  of 
habit  over  the  human  mind,  and  such,  also,  the  indissolu- 
ble tie  of  association  of  things  that  have  no  real  or  neces- 
saiy  connection  in  nature,  that  it  is  hard  to  convince  the 
credulous  and  ordinary  thinker  but  that  every  word  must 
have  its  separate  and  appropriate  meaning,  and,  there- 
fore, that  feeling,  reasoning,  thinking,  etc.,  as  they  differ 
in  words,  must  be  different  in  nature. 

The  despotic  power  of  fashion  is  sustained,  in  like 
manner,  not  from  any  merit  in  the  object  itself,  nor 
from  any  real  existence  in  nature,  but  from  our  acces- 
sary and  associated  ideas.  A  fashion  may  be  formless 
and  even  offensive  and  forbidding  at  first,  but  soon  it 
becomes  tolerable,  and  by  a  farther  association  with  the 
idea  of  the  great  and  fashionable,  it  becomes  beautiful  and 
irresistible  over  the  taste  of  the  aping  and  fashionable 
world.  A  borrowed  and  factitious  beauty  is  engrafted 
upon  the  human  mind,  the  fruit  of  which  there  is  no 
archetype  or  stable  existence  in  nature.  Things  obtain  a 
common  rusticity  or  nobility,  according  to  their  intimate 
associations.  A  costume  habitually  worn  by  persons  of 
high  rank  acquires  an  air  of  elegance  and  beavity,  when 
the  same  form,  if  awsociated  with  the  idea  of  low  life, 
would  be  repugnant  to  our  erratic  and  fastidious  taste. 
Hence  the  studied  and  constantly  guarded  effort  of  snobs 
to  an  air  of  elegance  and  of  exclusive  importance.  Dug- 
aid  Stewart  very  justly  remarks,  that  tlie  only  reason  why 
the  Scotch  language  is  esteemed  as  rough,  disagreeable, 
and  vulgar,  is  that  Edinburgh  is  a  provincial  town,  and 


240  THE    TRUE    nilLOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

London  the  seat  of  court !  All  who  are  thus  warped  and 
swayed  by  artistic  taste  and  human  conventionalities,  I 
call  weak-minded  and  vulgar,  for  upon  such  impotent 
minds  have  ever  been  entailed  the  vices  of  their  adored 
and  corrupt  models.  Thus,  by  artful  authority,  based 
uj)on  the  same  credulity,  has  our  moral  judgment  been 
perverted,  and  the  better  feelings  of  the  human  heart 
been  overwhelmed  with  a  flood  of  petty  and  party  preju- 
dices. Thus,  too,  upon  the  same  principles  of  association, 
has  the  priesthood,  by  coupling  the  most  unhallowed 
things  Tv^ith  the  sacred  and  overawing  name  of  divine 
vicegerency  been  able  to  pin  down  the  galling. yoke  of 
vassalage  upon  the  masses.  Frauds  and  seductions  innu- 
merable have  been  perjietrated  under  the  foul  cloak  of 
hypocrisy  by  the  soft  whisperings  of  divinity  and  the 
tender  ties  of  sisterhood,  and  the  books  of  heaven  are 
blackened  by  the  records  of  filchings  from  the  poor  and 
oppressed.  As  may  be  seen  elsewhere,  many  mistakes 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  are  bound  up  in  the  Bible,  but 
such  is  their  genuine  and  sacred  associations  that  we  do 
not  dare  to  grant  our  own  judgments,  and  are  afraid  to 
separate  them,  though  we  may  not  believe  in  their 
canonical  and  inspirational  infallibility.  And  thus  has 
time,  with  its  divine  associations,  hallowed  some  of  the 
grossest  and  most  libellous  personalities  against  the  great 
Jehovah  himself. 

In  farther  illustration  of  the  deception  of  association, 
we  often  couple  the  cause  and  efi'ect  as  one  inseparable 
idea.  For  instance,  we  receive  the  words  color,  smell, 
solidity,  etc.,  as  the  objects  themselves,  when,  in  reality, 
they  are  only  arbitrary  sounds  to  express  the  cause  of  our 
inner  feelings  or  ideas,  which  can  not,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  be  red,  fragrant,  solid,  or  like  sound.  These  are 
mere  feelings  and  exist  in  the  soul  alone,  and  bear  no 
exact  resemblance  to  the  external   thing,  to  which  we 


REASON.  241 

arbitrarily  give  a  name  for  convenience'  sake.  The  rusty- 
nail  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  lock-jaw  which  it  pro- 
duces; the  knife  does  not  look  like  the  pain  we  feel  from 
the  wound  it  inflicts,  nor  does  the  miasma  bear  any  re- 
semblance to  the  fever  it  occasions.  The  matter  of  the 
rose  might  exhale  forever,  and  no  such  idea  or  word  as 
fragrance  could  ever  exist,  but  for  the  existence  of  the 
sentient  being,  upon  which  the  thought  is  impressed  by 
such  specific  particles  of  matter ;  in  like  manner  might 
the  soul  have  a  separate  and  eternal  existence  with- 
out such  sensation,  but  for  the  actual  existence  which  im- 
presses it.  Vinegar  does  not  look  sour,  nor  does  sugar 
smell  sweet. 


242  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF   MIND. 


APPEKDIX. 


As  stated  in  my  preface,  not  having  a  book  of  any  kind 
before  me,  what  I  have  written  has  been  from  memory, 
a  few  notes  taken  diiring  my  reading  days,  but  mainly 
from  the  long  experience  and  observation  of  my  own 
mind  in  its  adventurous  and  meditative  journey  of  life. 
Since  finishing  this  essay,  however,  I  have  procured 
Haven's  Mental  Philosophy,  a  very  popular  and  artistic 
work,  which  is  now  used  as  a  text-book  in  all  the  colleges 
throughout  the  United  States.  Having  no  space  for  a 
review,  or  for  strict  criticism  in  pointing  out  all  the 
palpable  errors  of  the  author's  dictum,  and  his  astound- 
ing contradictions  in  his  frenzied  and  bewildered  at- 
tempts to  sustain  his  dogmas,  I  will  make  but  a  few 
quotations,  from  which  the  reader  may  judge  for  himself. 

Page  557.  Haven  says  :  "  A  volition  may  be  certain  to 
take  place,  and  it  may  be  motive  that  makes  it  take 
place,  or  certain,"  and  yet  attempts  to  escape  by  the 
quibble  of  saying:  "It  is  not  the  motive,  but  the  mind, 
which  acts,  and  therefore,  though  motives  and  choice 
may  be  the  unavoidable  antecedents  and  precursors  of 
will  and  action,  they  are  only  the  occasion  or  reason 
why  we  act  thus  and  so,  and  not  otherwise."  And  by 
way  of  illustration  he  says :  "  There  is  a  cause  why 
the  apple  falls — it  is  gravitation.  There  is  a  reason  why 
the  mind  acts  and  wills  as  it  does — it  is  motive."  Here 
he  attempts,  as  the  reader  will  see,  to  make  a  distinction 


APPENDIX.  243 

between  the  reason  why  we  act  and  the  cause  why  we 
act,  where  there  can  be  no  difference,  except  in  sound, 
for  if  motives  produce  action,  as  he  admits,  are  not 
motives  the  cause  of  action — call  them  the  occasion,  the 
reason,  or  what  you  please,  when  motives,  by  his  own 
admission,  are  the  authors,  yes,  the  cause  of  their  effects  ? 
AYhatever  produces  action  I  call  the  cause  of  action. 
Again  he  says :  "  I  have  all  along  admitted  that  there  is 
such  a  connexion  between  volitions  and  motives  that  the 
former  never  occurs  without  the  latter,  that  they  stand 
related  as  antecedent  and  consequent,  and  that  motives, 
while  not  the  producing  cause  of  volitions,  are  still  the 
reason  and  occasion  why  the  volitions  are  as  they  are,  and 
not  otherwise."*  Now  admitting,  as  the  author  does,  that 
such  is  the  connection  between  motives  and  volitions 
that  volitions  can  never  occur  without  motives,  and  that 
they  stand  related  as  antecedent  and  consequent,  the 
reader  will  naturally  ask,  how  the  author  can  possibly 
deny  the  causal  influence  of  motives  in  the  production  of 
will  and  action?  If  he  will  read  a  little  back,  he  will 
see  the  evasion  to  be  this :  That  as  motives  can  not  act, 
the  mind  must  be  the  ultimate  agent  and  author  of  its 
own  acts ;  that  is,  the  mind  is  the  proximate  cause  of 
mental  acts.  Now  this,  while  true  in  words,  is  false  to 
the  spirit  and  truth  of  the  subject  matter.  Yes,  false 
to  inevitable  results  and  to  the  decreed  laws  of  casuality. 

"  Miglity  fUHS,  what  can  tlie  differenco  be  ? 
"I'wixt  twfcdlu  iluiii  and  twecdlo  dec." 

Havrn  bliii«lly  looks  only  at  tlie  last  link  of  the  moving 
chain  ol"  causal  events,  lie  miglit,  Avith  equal  propriety, 
ulliriii  that  the  miasma,  whieli  caused  the  fever,  did  not 
kill,  l)Ul  the  fever  was  the  cause  of  death,  and  that  the 
miuHina  which  caused  the  fever  should  be  called  the  reason 
or  occasion  of  death.     The  man  who  stabs  another  might 


244  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OP   MIND. 

say:  "I   did   not   kill,  it  was   the   knife  which   did   the 
mischief."     Our  author,  when  a  man  is  found  dead  by 
a  shot,  could,  by  his  crafty  and   subtle  shifts,  contend 
before  the  court  that  the  ball  did  the  killing,  and  that 
his  client  only  pulled  the  trigger,  and,  consequently,  was 
not  the   cause,   but   nothing   more  than   the    reason   or 
occasion  of  the  fatal  event.     If  Haven's  logic  be  legiti- 
mate, the  mother  in  great  distress  might  be  told  that 
the  loss  of  her  child  was  not  the  cause  of  her  distress, 
but  that  it  was  her  own  mind,  which  was  independent 
of  circumstances  and  the  author  of  its  own  acts.     He 
makes  a  distinction  between  remote  and  proximate  causes, 
calling  one  a  cause  and  the  other  the  occasion,  or  reason 
of  an   act,  when    in    reality   they  are   both  causes,  the 
remote  being  the  first  mover  and  main  cause  of  all  events. 
"When  one  laughs  at  an  anecdote  our  author  would  say, 
it  was  not  the  anecdote  that  laughed,  but  the  mind,  it 
being    the    author    and    cause  of  its   own   acts ;    while 
I  affirm  the  anecdote  to  have  been  the  cause,  and  the 
whole   cause   and   efficient   agent,   the   mind  being  the 
subject  upon  which  it  acted,  and  the  laughter  the  effect 
or   product   of  the   two.     And  now  this  takes   us  back 
to  my  dualistic  doctrine,  and  to  my  favorite  illustration  of 
the   chloride   of   sodium    (common    table   salt)    wherein 
neither  muriatic  acid  nor  soda  constitute  table  salt,  which 
is  an  effect,  a  result  of  the  union  of  the  two,  wherein 
neither  alone  could  possibly  be  a  cause.     In  like  manner 
it  is  impossible  for  the  mind,  which  is  simply  the  subject 
to  be  operated  upon,  to  be  the  sole  agent  or  author  of  any 
act,  all  acts  being  results,  or  the  effects  of  something  that 
awaken  the  mind  and  causes  it  to  act;   "otherwise,"  as 
Hamilton   says,    "motiveless   acts,  were   it  possible   for 
them  to  exist,  would  be  perfectly  worthless,  as  having  no 
object  in  view,  good  or  bad."     The  mind,  I  again  and 
again  most  positively  assert,  can  do  nothing  of  itself; 
otherwise  blind  and  deaf  persons,  who  have  minds,  but 


APPENDIX.  245 

without  means  of  being  operated  upon,  could  see,  hear 
and  know  the  objects  of  sight  and  sound. 

In  speaking  of  the  causes  of  will,  he  says:  "What  are 
the  essential  phenomena  of  an  act  of  the  will?     Let  us 
arrest  ourselves  in  the  process  of  putting  forth  an  act  of 
this  kind,  and  observe  exactly  what  it  is  we  do,  and  what 
are  the  essential  data  in  the  case.     I  am  sitting  at  my' 
table.     I  reach  forth  my  hand  to  take  a  book.     I  observe 
in   this  case  under  consideration  a  motive  hnpelling  or 
inducing  to  that  end  (true  fatality),  a  reason  why  I  willed 
the  act.     It  was  curiosity,  perhaps,  to  see  what  the  book 
was,  or  it  may  have  been  some  other  principle  of  my 
nature  (fatality),  which  induced  me  to  put  forth  the  voli- 
tion.   Previous  to  my  putting  forth  the  volition  to  move  my 
arm,  there  was  a  choice  or  decision  to  do  so.     In  view  of 
the  end  to  be  accomplished  and  influenced  by  the  motive 
(fatality),  I  made  up  my  mind,  to  use  a  common  but  not 
inapt  expression,  to  perform  the  act.    Eeasons  to  the  con- 
trary of  an  intended  act  may  suggest  themselves  (fatality); 
counter-influences  and  motives  (yes,  motives),  in  view  of 
which  we  hesitate,  deliberate,  decide;  and  that  decision, 
in  view  of  all   the  circumstances,  is  our  preference,  or 
choice." — Page  525.    Again:  "Different  motives  may  act 
in  different  directions;  they  frequently  do  so.    Desire  im- 
pels me  one  way  (true  fatality),  duty  another.    Conflict 
then  arises.    Which  shall  prevail,  desire  or  dutj',  to  act 
at  all,  is  a  desire  to  act  whether  of  duty  or  otherwise 
(miserable  tautology),  depends  on  circumstances  (yes,  cir- 
cumstances), on  my  cliuractor  already  formed  (fatality), 
my  habits  of  thought  and  feeling,  my  degree  of  self-con- 
trol,  my   conscientiousness,   the   strength    of  my    native 
propensities  (fatality),  the  clearness  witli   which,  at  the 
time,  I  ai))tn'Iii'iHl    llu-  ditfereiit  courses  of  conduct    pro- 
posed, lln-ir  cliaracltT  and   I  heir  consequences." 

In    siM-aUin^'    ol    Im.vv    (Ik-   will    is    intlncMrcd    lie    .iLrain 


246  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

says,  page  527:  "Now  as  regards  the  actual  operation  of 
things,  our  choices  are,  in  fact,  always  influenced  by  cir- 
cumstances (fatality),  and  these  circumstances  are  various 
and  innumerable ;  a  thousand  seen  and  unseen  influences 
are  at  work  upon  us  to  aff'ect  (fatally)  our  decisions. 
Were  it  possible  to  estimate  aright  all  these  influences, 
to  calculate  with  precision  their  exact  weight  and  efi'ect, 
then  our  choice  under  any  given  circumstances  might  be 
predicted  with  unerring  (fatal)  certainty."  Here,  mark  it, 
he  has  fully  granted  the  imperious  influences  of  motives 
and  circumstances  on  the  mind  in  the  production  of  will 
"impelling  the  mind,"  as  he  says,  "this  way,  that  way^ 
and  the  other  to  an  ultimate  decision;"  an  argument 
wholly  inconsistent  with  a  self-created,  fi-ee,  and  motive- 
less will.  Further  comment  here  would  be  a  waste  of 
time,  as  the  reader  can  without  effort  see  that  the  author, 
though  a  professed  free-wilier,  is  forced  to  grant  the 
paramount  niotivity  of  will  that  inevitably  confirm  the 
doctrine  of  fatality.  I  further  quote  a  sentence  to  show 
the  vexatious  error  and  folly  in  complicating,  confusing, 
and  rendering  a  thing  incomprehensible  which  in  itself 
is  so  simple  and  comprehensible.  But  here  it  is:  "It  is 
a  matter  of  some  importance  to  ascertain  the  relation 
which  the  will  sustains  to  the  other  mental  powers. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  activity  of  the  will  is 
preceded,  in  all  cases,  by  that  of  the  intellect." 

The  most  common  obsei-ver  must  have  learned  from  my 
previous  views,  that  will  is  nothing  but  the  simple,  indi- 
visible mind  willing;  that  is,  it  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  one  of  the  millions  of  modes  of  mind,  under  the  in- 
fluences of  causes  producing  all  the  sensations,  pleasures, 
pains,  desires,  and  aversions  of  mind ;  so  it  will  be  seen 
that  will  bears  no  relation  to  anything  but  the  specific 
object  which  creates  it,  or  rather  induces  the  mind  to  put 
forth    such  will.      Power  is  a  powerful  and  multifarious 


APPENDIX.  247 

word  with  loose  writers ;  but  if  the  reader  will  read  back, 
he  will  see  that  the  mind  has  no  power  other  than  that  of 
the  wax  to  be  impressed  with  endless  impressions,  each 
and  every  object  creating  in  the  mind  an  idea  of  its  own 
inherent  and  specific  nature.     The  mind  has  no  power  to 
create  ideas  within  itself  any  more  than  the  daguerreo- 
type to  create  its  pictures  aside  from  its  objects  of  will  or 
desire.     Our  author  says  that  the  activity  of  the  will  is  in 
all  cases  preceded  by  the  activity  of  the  intellect.     This 
is  a  loose  and  blundering  tautology,  devoid  of  meaning ; 
for  the  willing  mind  is  the  will,  and  the  will  is  the  mind 
willing.     It  is  the  same  as  to  say,  the  activity  of  mind  is 
preceded  by  the  activity  of  the  mind,  for  what  is  intellect 
but  the  mind,  and  what  is  willing  but  a  mode  of  the  mind. 
I  again  quote,  speaking  of  an  object  of  volition,  he  says: 
"  I  must  first  perceive  some  object  presented  to  my  under- 
standing   before  I  can  will  its   attainment."     Here  is  a 
positive  affirmation  of  the  author  that  the  mind  has  no 
power  to  will  but  by  the  promptings  of  its  objects ;  but  to 
proceed:  "In  the  case  already  supposed  the  book  lying 
on  my  table  is  an  object  within  the  cognizance  of  sense, 
and  to  perceive  it  is  an  act  of  intellect.     Until  perceived, 
the  will  puts  not  forth  any  volition  (miserable  tautology, 
will  and  volition    being   the  same,)  respecting    it;    in  a 
word,  whatever  comes  in  as  a  motive,  (yes,  motive,)  to  in- 
fluence the  mind  in  favor  of  or  against  a  given  course,  must 
in  the  first  instance  address  itself  to  the  understanding, 
and  be  comprehended  by  that  power  before  it  can  influ- 
ence mental  decision    (fiatality).      A    motive  which  I  can 
not  comprehend   is  no  motive;  a  reason  which  I  do  not 
perceive  or  UTMlcrHtand,  is  to  me  no  reason."     You  ohscrve 
here  that  no  fjilalist  couhl  be  tnori!  liilul  tiiaii   our  author. 
"A  motive  (he  says)  which  I  can  not  compichciul,  is  no 
motive  to  will  or  act:"  page  532.     Now  il  must  be  plainly 
perreivt'fl    flint     iC   tlir    miiiil    was    i'rw   io  cn-at*'  its  own 


248  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

objects  within  itself,  it  would  not  be  dependent  upon  out- 
ward objects  which  it  must  first  comprehend  before  it  can 
will  or  act.  Once  more :  "  It  is  not  until  some  feeling  is 
aroused,  my  curiosity  or  desire  in  some  form  awakened, 
that  my  will  acts.  The  object  must  not  only  be  perceived, 
but  perceived  as  agreeable,  and  the  wish  to  j^ossess  it  be 
entertained  (fatality,)  before  the  volition  is  put  forth." 
Much  more  might  be  quoted,  but  all  to  the  same  effect  of 
positive  fatality. 

I  give  the  following  sentence  to  show  additional  errors : 
"I  have  already  shown  in  presenting  the  psychological 
facts  respecting  the  will,  that  our  motives  of  action  arc 
from  two  grand  and  diverse  sources,  desire  and  duty.'' 
.Here,  again,  there  is  an  obvious  misrepresentation  of  the 
very  nature  of  mind,  its  laws,  and  its  course  of  action. 
Mind  is  simply  a  being  endowed  with  sensation,  or  in  more 
correct  language,  a  susceptibility  of  sensation,  when  acted 
upon  by  objects  that  produce  sensations.  If  sensations 
and  ideas  (all  the  same)  were  concrete  things,  and  perma- 
nent in  the  mind,  we  should  have  millions  of  ideas  and 
sensations  present  all  at  the  same  time,  when  in  reality 
we  have  but  one  at  a  time.  They  are  momentary  results 
or  effects  of  a  subjective  and  objective  unity;  a  product  of 
the  dualistic  law  which  I  have  maintained  throughout 

He  says :  "  Our  motives  of  action  are  from  two  grand 
and  diverse  sources,  desire  and  dvity."  In  the  first  place, 
there  is  no  diversity  in  a  willing  act;  it  is  a  unit,  a  simple 
desire  to  act.  If  we  act  from  a  sense  of  duty,  it  is  no 
less  a  desire  to  act.  In  short,  desire  must  precede  every 
voluntary  act  of  life,  and  where  then  the  necessity  of 
making  complicated  divisions,  as  he  goes  on  to  do,  of  a 
unit  and  a  thing  indivisible.  There  may  be,  and  are 
many  remote  causes  of  will,  but  they  all  resolve  them- 
selves into  one — a  simple  desire  to  act  before  we  do  act. 

In  speaking  of  God's  fbx'eknowledge  and  full  control  ' 


APPENDIX.  249 

over  the  thoughts  and  actions  of  man,  he  says  :  "Nothing 
must  take  place  without  his  foreknowledge  and  permis- 
sion. But  how  are  these  things  to  be  reconciled — man's 
entire  freedom  and  God's  entire  control  and  government 
over  him.  They  appear  inconsistent,  and  many  do  not 
hesitate  to  pronounce  them  so.  Some,  who  accept  them 
both  as  true,  regard  them  still  inexplicable  and  incompre- 
hensible. The  fatalist  secures  the  supreme  government 
of  God  only  at  the  expense  of  human  freedom.  Others 
again  (free-willers),  in  their  horror  of  fatalism,  preserve 
the  freedom  and  accountability  of  man  at  the  expense 
of  the  Divine  government  and  pui-poses,  thus  virtually 
placing  man  beyond  the  power  and  control  of  Deity." 

Now  we  will  see  how  the  author  attempts  to  reconcile 
man's  independence  and  freedom  with  the  Divine  govern- 
ment: "We  choose  thus  and  thus,  because  we  are,  on 
the  whole,  so  disposed  or  inclined ;  and  this  inclination 
or  disposition,  depends  on  a  great  variety  of  circum- 
stances (yes,  circumstances),  on  the  nature  and  strength  of 
the  motive  (yes,  motive,  I  say)  presented,  our  physical  and 
mental  constitution  and  habits,  (who  gave  us  our  physical 
and  mental  constitution  ?)  our  power  of  self-control,  the 
strength  of  our  desires,  as  compared  with  our  sense  of 
duty,  the  presence  or  absence  of  exciting  objects ;  in  tine, 
on  a  great  variety  of  predisposed  causes  and  circum- 
stances (yes,  circumstances),  all  of  which  are  to  be  taken 
into  account,  when  the  question  is,  why  do  we  choose 
thus  and  not  othorvfisG? "-^(true  fatality).  "Now,  these 
circumstances,  which  go  to  determine  our  inclinations, 
and  so  our  choices  and  volitions,  are,  in  a  great  measure, 
beyond  our  direct  control — (strong  f at ality).  Our  physical 
and  mental  constitution,  our  external  condition,  our  state 
of  mind  and  circumstances  (circumstances)  at  any  given 
moment  whatevci-  in  tlio  siiapo  of  motive  (yes,  motive)  or 
inducement   nuiy    Ijc   j)re8ent  with    moving   power  (yes. 


250  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

power  of  circumstances)  to  the  mind,  inclining  ns  this  way 
or  that ;  all  this  lies  much  more  under  Divine  control  than 
under  our  own — (double  fatality).  Here,  then,  to  speak 
reverently,  lies  the  avenue  of  approach,  through  which 
Deity  may  come  in  and  take  possession  of  the  human 
mind,  and  influence  and  shape  its  action  without  infring- 
ing in  the  least  on  its  perfect  freedom — (nonsense).  He 
has  only  to  present  such  motives  as  shall  seem  to  the 
mind  weighty  and  sufficient  {shame!  what,  Deity  thus 
tampering  personally  with  man !),  has  only  to  touch  the 
main-spring  of  human  inclination,  lying  back  of  actual 
choice,  (yes,  just  as  I  constantly  say,  motive  lying  back  of 
choice,  will,  ^nd  action),  has  only  to  secure  within  us  a 
disposition  or  liking  to  any  given  course,  and  our  choice 
follows  with  certainty  (yes,  Deity  can  force  us  with  certainty) 
and  our  volition  and  our  action ;  and  that  action  and 
volition  are  free  in  the  highest  sense,  because  our  choice 
was  ft'ee — (astounding  nonsense).  We  acted  just  as  we 
were  inclined.  Now  this  is  just  what  we,  in  a  limited 
way,  and  to  a  small  extent,  are  constantly  doing  with 
respect  to  our  fellow-men.  We  present  motives  and 
inducements  to  a  given  course,  we  work  upon  their 
inclinations,  we  appeal  to  their  sensibilities,  their  natural 
desires,  their  sense  of  duty ;  and,  in  proportion  as  we 
gain  access  to  their  hearts,  we  are  successful  in  shaping 
and  controlling  their  conduct. 

^'The  great  and  difficult  art  of  governing  men  lies  in 
this :  We  have  only  to  suppose  a  like  power,  but  complete 
and  perfect,  to  be  exercised  by  the  Supreme  Disposer  and 
Controller  of  events  (yes,  so  says  fatality),  so  shaping  and 
ordering  (ordering)  circumstances  as  to  determine  (to 
determine)  the  inclination  of  men,  gaining  access,  not  in 
an  uncertain  and  indirect  manner,  but  by  an  immediate 
approach  to  the  human  heart,  all  whose  springs  lie  under 
his  (yes,  under)  control,  so  that  he  can  touch  and  com- 
mand (command   them)  as   he  wills:   we   have   only  to 


APPENDIX.  251 

conceive  this,  and  we  have,  as  it  seems  to  me,  a  full  and 
sufficient  explanation  of  the  fact  that  man  acts  freely  and 
just  as  he  is  inclined,  while  j^et  he  is  perfectly  under  the 
Divine  control  (what  but  Deity  inclines  him — and  yet  free? 
Monstrous  nonsense !)  And  this,  if  I  mistake  not,  is  pre- 
cisely the  sort  of  control  and  power  over  man  which  the 
Scriptures  always  ascribe  to  God,  viz :  power  over  the 
inclinations,  affections,  dispositions,  from  which  proceed 
all  our  voluntary  actions.  Iu»  his  hands  arc  the  hearts  of 
men,  and  he  can  turn  them  as  the  rivers  of  water  are 
turned."' 

I  now  ask  the  reader  to  pause  and  meditate  seriously 
upon  what  he  has  ju.st  read.     He  will  see  here  admitted 
by  the  strongest  and  ablest  free-will  writer  of  the  world, 
tiiat  man  must  and  always  does  yield  to  the  irrevocable 
mandates  of  his  original  and  unavoidable  nature,  state  of 
health,  education,  and  the  motives  presented  to  the  mind 
for  action.    Yes,  and  God  himself  presents  motives.    Eead 
and  read  again,  think   and  think  again   solemnly  upon 
every  sentence,  and   you  will   see,  unwillingly,  but  un- 
avoidably, a  clear  admission    that   man    is  fated    to  his 
nature  and  the  circumstances  attending  his  condition  in 
life,  as  well  as  his  helplessness  under  the  divine  govern- 
ment.    I  quote  again  for  further  reflection  :  "But  suppose 
I  have  really  no  inclination,  no  disposition  to  do  right. 
M}'  affections  and  desires  are  all  wrong,  inclining  me  to 
evil,  and    my  sense  of  duty  or  mcjral  obligation   is  not 
strong  enough   to   prevail   against   these   natural   desires 
and  evil    inclinatir>ns;  suppose  this,  which,  alas!   is  too 
ollen  true,  and  what   then  becomes  of  my  power  to  do 
right?      J^oes  it  any  longer  exist?      Have  I   any  power 
to  change  these  affections  and   inclinations;  or,  their  re- 
maining as  they  are,  have  J   my  j)owi'r  to  go  contrary  to 
iheui?     A  queHti<jn,  this,  at  once  i»roloiin<lly  philosopiii- 
ca  und  intensely  practical.     To  tlie  question,  then — can  a 


252  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

man  whose  inclinations  are  evil,  whose  heart  is  wrong,  do 
right  ?  a  true  psychology  answers,  yes.  He  can  do  what 
he  is  not  inclined  to  do  (absurd);  nor  is  that  evil  inclina- 
tion a  fixed  quantity;  he  can  be,  he  may  be  otherwise 
inclined.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  so  long  as 
the  heart  is  wrong,  so  long  as  the  evil  disposition,  so  long 
the  man  will  continue  to  do  evil — (that  is  certain),  not- 
withstanding all  his  power  to  the  contrary — (no  power  of 
himself).  Left  to  himself,  there  is  very  little  probability 
of  his  effecting  any  material  change  in  himself  for  the 
better.  In  order  to  do  this,  there  is  needed  an  influence 
from  without  and  from  above;  an  influence  that  shall 
(yes,  shall)  incline  him  to  obedience,  that  shall  make  him 
willing  (make  him  willing)  to  obey.  This  is  precisely  the 
want  of  his  nature  which  Divine  grace  meets.  It  creates 
in  him  a  clean  heart,  and  renews  within  him  a  riHit 
sj)irit.  This  is  the  sublime  mystery  of  regeneration.  The 
soul  that  is  thus  born  of  Grod  is  made  willing:  to  do  rie-ht- 
The  inclinations  are  no  longer  to  evil,  but  to  good,  and 
the  man  still  doing  as  he  pleases  does  the  will  of  God 
(what!  made  by  Grod  to  do  his  will,  and  still  free?)  The 
change  is  in  the  disposition ;  it  is  a  change  of  the  affec- 
tions, of  the  heart;  thus  the  Scriptures  always  represent 
it.  This  was  what  was  wanted  to  secure  obedience,  and 
this  Divine  grace  supplies." 

It  is  here  admitted  by  our  author  that  God  created  our 
nature  and  holds  our  hearts  and  wills  in  his  hands,  and 
though  bound  by  these  destinies  and  the  motives  and 
incidents  of  life,  which  imperiously  lead  us  this  way, 
that,  and  the  other,  we  can  do  as  we  please;  that  our 
hearts  are  continually  evil,  and  that  of  ourselves  we  can 
do  nothing,  requiring  the  grace  of  God  to  give  us  a  clean 
heart  and  renew  within  us  a  right  sjsirit,  and  yet  we  can 
do  as  we  please !  So  long  as  the  heart  is  wrong,  so  long 
will  we  continue  to  do  evil,  notwithstanding  all  our  power 


APPENDIX.  253 

to  the  contrary ;  yet  we  can  do  as  we  please.  Man  left 
to  himself  can  make  no  change  in  himself  for  the  better, 
which  requires  a  power  from  above,  yet  he  can  do  as  he 
pleases;  that  we  have  no  power  to  go  contrary  to  our 
nature,  but  yet  we  can  do  as  we  please ;  that  our  Maker 
has  full  possession  and  control  of  the  main-springs  of  our 
hearts,  of  our  affections  and  dispositions,  and  yet  we  can 
go  contrary  to  the  will  of  our  Maker,  and  do  as  we  please. 
I  admit  (and  so  ought  every  fatalist  to  admit)  that  we  can 
do  as  we  please,  but  deny  that  we  can  avoid  doing  as  we 
please,  having  no  power  over  the  causes  which  make  us 
pleased  any  more  than  we  have  over  the  causes  of  plea- 
sure and  pain,  of  sickness  and  death.  As  I  have  before 
said,  and  fully  explained,  this  great  question  of  will  is 
not  whether  we  can  do  as  we  please,  for  that  is  inevitable ; 
but  whether  our  unavoidable  nature,  and  the  motives 
presented  to  the  mind  for  a  choice,  is  not  the  course  of 
that  choice,  and,  consequently,  of  the  pleasure  to  do  or  not 
to  do,  according  to  circumstances.  The  pleasure  to  do  or 
not  to  do,  I  affirm  to  be  as  compulsive  as  the  pleasures 
and  pains  that  constantly  come  upon  us;  but  there  are 
etfects,  take  notice,  of  sufficient  causes,  which  causes  are 
without  and  Ijeyond  our  control. 

Now,  as  simple  and  easily  understood  as  this  word 
pleased  ought  to  be,  and  would  be  if  changed  to  force, 
the  whole  quil>ble  and  wily  subterfuge  of  authors  has 
hinged  uj>on  it,  and  I  regret  to  see  that  Haven,  who  must 
have  known  better,  has  made  (I  hojje  unwittingly,)  a  false 
application  of  it  to  deceive  his  readers,  and  that  in  a  case 
HO  momentous  in  its  bearings  as  the  human  will  by  which 
the  world  is  governed.  Kead  back  a  little  and  you  will 
find  another  great  error  and  inconsistency  in  this  author. 
After  affirming  ail  along  that  we  <lo  what  we  are  inclined 
or  pleased  to  do,  he  .says:  "We  can  voluntarily  <io  what 
we  are  not  inclined   or  pleased  to  <lo."     Sueh   ludicrous 


254  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY    OP    MIND. 

inconsistencies  convince  not,  but  provoke  derision.     He 
says  when  God  enters  the  heart,   takes  possession,  and 
makes  us  pleased  to  do  a  thing,  then  we  can   do  as  he 
makes  us  pleased  to  do.     Who  can  deny  but  that  God  can 
make  us  do  as  he  pleases — vexatious  folly  and  waste  of 
paper.     His  assumptions  and  conclusions  constantly  run 
counter.     In  a  single  sentence  the  affirmation  is  that  we 
are  induced  by  circumstances  and  temptations  which  give 
motives  to  action,  and  in  conclusion,  we  act  free  and  inde- 
pendent of   all  circumstances,  temptations,  motives,  and 
desires.     We  can  do  not  only  what  we  are  forced  to  do, 
but  that  we  can  do  what  we  are  not  pleased  to  do,  and 
can  not  do.     In  short,  that  a  thing  is,  and  is  not  at  the 
same  time;  that  white  is  black,  and  black  is  white.     His 
blundering  shifts  to  escape  the  truth,  has  nutralized  his 
whole  work,  and  proven  the  title  false,  as  no  philosophy. 
In  this,  however,  he  is  not  alone ;  for  his  book  is  nothing 
more  than  a  copy  of  ten  thousand  stereotyped  copies  of 
the  old  drivelling,  stayed  and  stale  errors  of  two  thou- 
sand years  standing.      I  say  Haven  is  not  alone  in  his 
quibbles  and  subterfuge  to  escape  the  truth,  for  what  is 
the  language  of  Hamilton,  Upham,  and,  indeed,  all  other 
free-will  writers.     It  would  be  tedious  to  give  all  of  Ham- 
ilton's argument  (though  a  free-wilier)  against  free-will, 
so  I  shall  quote  only  a  concluding  sentence  or  two,  thus : 
Page   586.     "How  the  will   can   possibly  be  free,  must 
remain  to  us,  under  the  present  limitation  of  our  facul- 
ties, wholly  incomprehensible.      We   are  unable  to  con- 
ceive an  absolute  commencement ;  we  can  not,  therefore, 
conceive  of  a  free  volition.     A  determination  by  motives 
can  not,  to  our  understanding,  escape  from  necessitation. 
(O  how  strong ! )     Nay,  were  we  even  to  admit  as  true 
what  we  can  not  think  as  possible,  a  free  will,  still  the 
doctrine  of  a  motiveless  volition,  would  be  only  casualism, 
and  the  free  acts  of  an  indifferent  will  are  morally  and 


APPENDIX.  255 

rationally  as  worthless  as  the  preordered  passions  by  a 
determined  will — (divinely  true).  How,  therefore,  I  re- 
peat, moral  liberty  is  possible  in  man  or  God  we  are 
utterly  unable,  speculatively,  to  understand."  All  his 
reasoning  in  favor  of  necessity  or  fatality  are  equally  as 
strong  and  clear  as  those  here  quoted.  And  now,  for  the 
views  of  Upham,  Mental  Philosophy,  page  265 :  "  In  voli- 
tion we  are  at  fii*8t  pleased  or  displeased,  or  have  some 
other  emotion  in  view  of  the  thing,  whatever  it  is,  which 
has  oome  under  the  cognizance  of  the  intellect.  And 
emotions,  in  the  ordinary  process  of  mental  action  are 
followed  by  desires.  As  we  can  not  be  pleased  or  dis- 
pleased without  some  antecedent  perception  or  knowl- 
edge of  the  thing  which  we  are  pleased  or  displeased 
with,  so  we  can  not  desire  to  possess  or  avoid  anything 
without  having  laid  the  foundation  of  such  desire  in 
the  existence  of  some  antecedent  emotion ;  and  this  is 
not  only  the  matter  of  fact  which,  as  the  mind  is  actually 
constituted,  is  presented  to  our  choice;  but  we  can  not 
well  perceive  how  it  could  be  otherwise.  To  desire  a 
thing  which  utterly  fails  to  excite  within  us  the  least 
emotion  of  pleasure,  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  solecism  or 
absurdity  in  nature ;  in  other  words,  it  seems  to  be  im- 
possible, from  the  nature  of  things,  under  any  conceivable 
circumstances.  At  any  rate  it  is  not  possible,  as  the  mind 
is  actually  constructed  whatever  might  have  been  the  fact 
if  the  mind  had  have  been  constructed  dilferently." 

Farther  comment  would    be  a  waste  of    paper,  as  the 
laggard   in  science    and  dullard  in  perception    must    at 
once  see  that  Upham  grants  the  paramount  power  of  mo- 
tives over   the  mind,  and    consequently  the  doctrine    of 
necessity. 

Ue  says:  "Before  we  can  will  or  act  we  must  bo 
pleaHed  or  dinjileased  with  some  object  in  view."  JNow 
as  the  mind  can   not  create   thoHC   objects  of  desire  or 


256  THE   TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF   MIND. 

necessaries  of  life,  and  as  we  can  not  will  or  act  without 
them,  what  is  the  sequence?  "  That  motives  control  the 
mind  as  it  is  now  constructed  is  a  matter  of  fact,  and  we 
can  not  perceive  how  it  could  be  otherwise.  At  any 
rate  {free-will)  is  not  possible  (he  repeats  it),  as  the  mind 
is  actually  constructed,  whatever  might  have  been  the 
fact,  if  the  mind  had  have  been  differently  constructed." 

After  all  this,  however,  TJpham,  like  Hamilton  and 
others,  craven  to  vulgar  prejudice,  and  disprove  their 
own  testimony  and  granted  fact  by  an  inconstant  and  per- 
fidious witness,  conscience,  a  thing  that  has  caused  all 
the  wars,  intollerance,  persecution,  and  bloodshed  of  the 
world.  That  has  made  Mormonism,  Shakerism,  Catholi- 
cism, Protestantism,  Spiritualism,  Mytholicism,  Moham- 
medanism, with  ten  thousand  adverse  and  warring  creeds. 
Yes,  and  dragged  thousands  of  the  best  men  on  earth  to 
the  stake.  But  I  must  close  these  reflections,  having 
already  passed  far  beyond  my  intended  limits. 

As  the  reader  may  wish  to  know  something  of  the 
different  systems  of  philosophy,  I  will  say  there  are  two 
great  divisions — the  conditioned  and  relative,  or  finite, 
and  the  unconditioned,  or  infinite  and  absolute.  In  plain, 
common-sense  terms,  the  conditioned  means  that  the 
mind  is  limited  and  can  not  transcend  certain  bounds, 
and  is  dependent  upon  our  senses  and  the  external  world 
for  its  knowledge.  For  instance,  the  finite  mind  can  not 
look  into  the  infinite  designs  of  Deity.  Space  and  time 
are  good  examples  of  our  conditioned  or  limited  thought, 
both  of  which  advance  as  we  approach,  and  even  in 
thought  we  find  no  end.  Of  this  branch  of  conditioned 
philosophy,  Hamilton  may  be  named  as  the  master 
spirit,  sustained  by  the  Scotch  philosophers  generally; 
whereas,  amongst  the  advocates  of  the  unconditioned 
and  absolute  philosoi^hy.  Bishop  Berkeley  was  the  most 
transcendental  and  rhapsodic.     The  eagle,  though  soar- 


APPENDIX.  257 

ing  high  in  the  heaven's  unfathomable  blue,  has  to 
return  to  earth  for  food  and  rest ;  but  this  philosopher, 
skylarking  it  all  the  time,  and  librating  between  heaven 
and  earth,  disclaimed  all  connection  with  matter,  when, 
if  he  had  had  the  common-sense  of  the  buzzard,  that 
glides  on  easy  wing,  he  would  have  known  he  had  to 
live  on  matter  in  common  with  all  other  animals. 
Swedenborg.  and  almost  all  of  the  German  philosophers, 
belong  to  this  school,  which  teaches  that  the  human  soul 
is  a  spark  of  divinity  itself,  and  that  it  is  possessed  of 
innate  and  eternal  ideas,  independent  of  our  gross  senses 
and  the  external  world.  Now  as  all  things  are  made  up 
of  its  parts,  any  part  taken  from  it  leaves  it  less  than  it 
was  with  all  its  parts ;  from  which  it  follows  that  forty 
millions  of  parts,  sparks  or  emanations  taken  froni  God 
annually  to  endow  human  souls,  would  by-and-by  leave 
him  without  a  soul  of  his  own  ;  and  this  is  not  the  only 
danger  or  hardship,  for  it  is  distressing  to  think  that 
countless  millions  of  the  little  souls  or  sparks  of  Deity 
should  be  in  hell,  and  enveloped  in  the  flames  of  Satan  ; 
for  those  vcrj'  philosophers  teacli  that  souls,  Avith  the 
sparks  of  Deity,  go  to  hell.  Moreover,  if  human  souls 
are  of  God,  he  certainly  can  not  punish  them  for  Adam's 
sin  ;  nor  is  it  probable  he  will  do  it,  because  they  are  a 
part  of  himself  This  they  declare  to  be  a  refined, 
spiritual,  and  elevating  philosophy,  compared  with  the 
common-sense  philosophy  which  condescends  to  teach  the 
vulgar  realities  of  life,  and  confines  man  to  his  fated  and 
legitimate  sphere.  True,  this  philosophy  lifts  man,  with 
his  Elysian  reveries  and  tipsy  joys,  to  the  tliird  heavens, 
})iil  it  is  l)oth  degrading  and  (Icsti-iictive  to  Deity.  In 
short,  it  JH  CoiinihMl  npfin  a  |ilinM/,ic(l  riinaticistn,  which 
acknowleilges  no  hounds  to  human  thought,  and  suhordi- 
nates  r»'an<^>n  to  tin*  vagari<'s  (»f'  imaginiit  ion  -  t  he  clinging 
nirsp  r>|"  Hficmt-   and    tin-   hli^rlit  of  irli'iion.      The    cHoiMh 


258  THE   TRUE   PHILOSOPHY   OF   MIND. 

of  those  writers  have  been  fervid  and  sincere,  but  their 
reasoning  is  rhapsodic,  ludicrous,  and  adverse  to  every 
principle  of  science.  If  the  clergy  and  fanatical  writers 
had  not  transcended  what  God  saw  proper  to  reveal  to 
man,  the  preaching  and  teaching  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixty-eight  years  would  not  now  find  the  Christian 
world  more  divided  and  distracted,  and  mankind  more 
wicked  and  dishonest  tlian  at  any  previous  age  of  the 
world.  To  allegorize  the  Bible,  take  the  words  out  of 
God's  own  mouth  and  appropriate  them  to  their  own 
sectarian  purposes,  has  produced  a  doubt  with  all,  and 
destroyed  the  unity  of  faith  in  Christ.  And  now,  with 
profound  humility,  do  I  ask  of  the  ineffable  Jehovah  a 
pardon  in  anything  I  may  have  said  amiss  in  my 
honest  efforts  to  do  good. 

Thinking  the  reader  may  also  wish  to  know  something 
of  the  age  and  extent  of  the  various  opinions  of  the 
world  upon  the  subject  of  human  liberty,  I  will  say  it 
has  existed  for  thousands  of  years,  and  been  observed  in 
all  parts  of  the  world  where  philosophy  and  theology 
have  been  sustained.  A  difference  of  opinion  prevails  in 
all  the  systems  of  theology  in  India,  and  throughout  the 
East.  The  Christian  missionary  meets  with  it  in  the 
remotest  regions,  and  amongst  nations  of  but  litttle  cul- 
tivation. Also  amongst  the  Greeks  conflicting  opinions 
prevailed.  The  school  of  Lucretius  taught  the  doctrine 
of  necessity,  as  also  did  Epictetus  of  the  Stoics.  There 
were  two  rival  sects  amongst  the  Jews — the  Sadducees, 
holding  to  the  doctrine  of  freedom,  while  the  Pharisees 
taught  that  of  necessity.  The  Arabian  schools  of  theology 
have  been  hotly  divided,  but  the  Koran,  teaching  the 
doctrine  of  necessity,  the  Kaarite  sect,  teaching  the  free- 
dom of  will,  has  had  to  give  way.  Amongst  the  modern 
reformers,  Luther  and  Melanchthon  were  advocates  for 
freedom,  while  Calvin   and   Biiccr   maintained    the  doe- 


APPENDIX.  259 

trine  of  necessity.  Amongst  the  writers  of  the  last 
and  present  centuries,  we  find  Hobbes,  Locke,  Liebnitz, 
Collins,  Edwards,  Priestley,  Diderot,  Belsham,  Lord 
Kames,  Hartley,  and  Mill,  author  of  logic,  open 
advocates  for  necessity ;  while  on  the  other  hand, 
Cousin,  Jouffroy,  Stewart,  Eied,  Brown,  Hamilton,  Des- 
cartes, Kant,  Upham,  Tappan,  Haven,  and  Bledsoe  are 
advocates  for  freedom,  but  these  are  only  a  few  on 
either  side  of  the  question. 

The  discussion  amongst  these  authors  has  been  in  regard 
to  the  power  to  do  as  we  will,  when  it  should  be,  as  I 
often  repeat  it,  whence  the  power  over  the  determi- 
nations of  the  will. 

In  closing  this  essay  I  will  once  more  call  attention 
to  the  main  question — what  it  is  that  causes  us  to  do 
as  we  please?  Is  it  nothing,  or  is  it  something?  If 
something,  what  ?  Is  it  a  spontaneity  rising  from  nothing 
within  the  mind,  or  is  it  an  object  to  be  gained  without 
the  mind  ?  For  instance,  we  desire  a  wife ;  is  it  the 
desire  which  creates  the  woman,  or  does  the  woman 
create  the  desire?  We  want  money;  is  it  the  want 
that  creates  the  money,  or  is  it  the  money  which  creates 
the  pleasure  and  the  act  to  take  it?  Once  more;  in 
all  our  acts  of  obligation  to  God  and  man,  is  it  the 
pleasure  that  creates  the  obligation,  or  is  it  a  knowledge 
of  the  obligation  which  begets  the  desire  or  pleasure 
to  fulfill  that  (obligation  ?  And  now  for  the  essence  of 
truth.  If  the  object  to  be  obtained  creates  that  pleasure, 
BO  much  harped  on,  to  do  as  we  please,  the  whole  question 
is  at  an  end,  for  it  can  not  be  that  the  pleasure  is  prior  to 
and  creates  the  object  before  it  has  any  knowledge  of  the 
oltject. 

If  a^kfcl  wliy  u  (|ii«'s(ion  so  jilaiii  and  easy  of  soliilion 
Bhould  have  distracUMl  the-  world  so  long,  I  would  answrr 
in    part    \>y  jinking  why  tln^   rtilers   «»!'    I  lie  woild    should 


260  THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHY    OF    MIND. 

deceive  the  people  for  the  sake  of  power  and  pelf;  and  in 
whole,  the  clergy  being  at  the  head  of  all  the  institutions 
of  learning  in  the  world,  give  a  tone  and  turn  to  thought, 
and  in  addition  to  the  temptation  of  our  temporary 
rulers,  for  the  clergy,  or  human,'  do  honestly,  sincerely 
and  piously  aim  at  doing  good,  and  act  under  a  belief 
that  the  truth  would  weaken  our  Christian  faith  and 
give  strength  and  encouragement  to  the  deeds  of  the 
wicked.  Astronomy,  geology,  and  almost  all  great  dis- 
coveries were  in  like  manner  to  destroy  religion,  but 
they  did  not,  nor  can  any  of  the  works  of  God  destroy 
his  book  revelation,  for  he  has  not  made  two  revelations, 
natural  and  supernatural,  one  to  destroy  the  other ;  so  if 
truth  be  of  God,  grant  it,  and  leave  the  consequences 
with  him.  This  is  my  aim  and  end,  and  feeling  that 
I  have  the  approbation  of  my  Maker,  have  strove  in  a 
hurried  and  desultory  manner  to  impress  the  the  truth 
uj)on  others. 

And  now,  in  fine,  I  will  say  to  the  reader,  that,  having 
written  afar  off,  amidst  the  voiceless  wilds  and  slumberous 
solitudes  of  the  gray  old  forest,  where,  in  God's  own 
sacred  fanes,  the  thoughts  here  recorded  were  inspired  ; 
he  must  look  at  the  object,  the  matter  and  the  argument, 
for  which  I  ask  nothing,  and  from  which  I  fear  nothing, 
but  having  not  a  book  by  me,  and  lacking  the  skill  of 
the  drivelling  and  mechanical  book-maker,  he  must  ex- 
cuse any  artistic  defect  he  may  see. 


,  !ALTK  'fr  'Hi  BOUOHS. 


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